Is the glaze recipe or chemistry the problem?
• If you are firing fast then you need to use a fast-fire glaze formulation so the glaze does not begin to melt until after body gassing is complete (the whole modern whiteware and tile industries are built on this principle). • Reduce zircon or alumina in the glaze melt to give it better flow properties. Or source them from a frit rather than raw materials. • Reformulate the glaze to have more fluidity (i.e. more flux or a lower alumina:silica ratio). • Strontium carbonate can help smooth viscous zirconium glazes, small amounts of ZnO and Li2O can do miracles for glaze flow. • Adjust the glaze so that it has a lower surface tension so that bubbles break more easily at the surface. • Does the recipe contain binders? When do these decompose to create gases (it might be higher than you think)? • Boron can induce blistering, especially if its amount is quite high (check limit/target formulas for guidance). The reasons for this phenomenon are not because of gassing (this is demonstrated by
