Silver Lusters

Amy Schleif-Mohr · Post by **Amy Schleif-Mohr** » Thu Jan 01, 2004 9:03 pm

Does anyone know if anyone makes silver luster? I have the Hanova gold, and would like to get some silver. Platinum won't work for the application I have in mind.

Thanks,
Amy

Tony Smith · Post by **Tony Smith** » Thu Jan 01, 2004 9:36 pm

Amy,

All I've been able to find is the platinum and the palladium.

Good luck.

Tony

Tom White · Post by **Tom White** » Thu Jan 01, 2004 9:39 pm

Amy, platinum, paladium, and "white gold" are the only white (silver) metalic lusters I have seen in the ceramic world. Why do you think platinum won't work for what you have in mind? Email me or pm me if you don't want to go into details on the board. I'm afraid anything based on true silver salts would give silver stain effects rather than metalic silver luster on the surface of any glass, including ceramic glaze.

Best wishes,
Tom in Texas

Amy Schleif-Mohr · Post by **Amy Schleif-Mohr** » Thu Jan 01, 2004 9:58 pm

Well I guess I should be looking for silver stain then... I wanted to use it on BE's French Vanilla and "draw" with a Kemper Pen.

Amy

Ron Coleman · Post by **Ron Coleman** » Thu Jan 01, 2004 10:12 pm

Amy Schleif-Mohr wrote:Well I guess I should be looking for silver stain then... I wanted to use it on BE's French Vanilla and "draw" with a Kemper Pen.

Amy

Also try some Spray A if you have it. The lead in Spray A will turn French Vanilla a nice brown color.

Ron

Tom White · Post by **Tom White** » Thu Jan 01, 2004 10:14 pm

Amy, do you want a metalic silver color or the yellow to orange silver strain color on your BE French Vanilla? Also, doesn't French Vanilla contain lead which makes it react differently than most glass? I would suggest small scale tests with whatever material you choose to try before large production pieces. BTW, I was able to purchase an 8 oz. bottle of silver nitrate solution from an industrial chemical repackager that I purchase 5 gal pails of sodium silicate from for my ceramic slip. I think it is something like .028N and is a clear liquid in a brown plastic bottle. I have played with it a little on the back side of float glass. I am still working on the right dilution to be able to get a nice yellow color when I fire to 1550F. I might have to fuse first then apply silver solution and refire to 1050 to get what I want.

Best wishes,
Tom in Texas

Amy Schleif-Mohr · Post by **Amy Schleif-Mohr** » Thu Jan 01, 2004 10:20 pm

Oh I totally agree with you on the tests.

BE's french vanilla has sulfur in it that reacts with the silver, I think anyway.

Well as for my results that I want, I don't really know yet. It's kinda an intuition thing. Right now I'm pretty close to what I want with sliver leaf but thought that it would be cool to be able to "draw" with the silver and get the same sort of result.

Amy

Tony Smith · Post by **Tony Smith** » Thu Jan 01, 2004 10:44 pm

Seattle pottery sells silver nitrate for about $18/oz. You should be able to make a solution that will work through the Kemper pen. I believe that Silver NItrate is water soluble.

Tony

Bert Weiss · Post by **Bert Weiss** » Thu Jan 01, 2004 10:46 pm

Amy

I believe that you can get lots of lusters from Hannovia and Ferro both. They make silver and palladium I think. Another source is Standard Ceramic Supply in Carnegie PA. I am away from home so I don't have phone numbers with me.

Tom White · Post by **Tom White** » Fri Jan 02, 2004 12:35 am

OK, then you do want the reaction beween the French Vanilla and the silver. The silver nitrate solution I have is water thin. This might be a little thin for use with a Kemper capillary pen. It might tend to spread wider than the width of the pen tube. You might want to look at a crow quill pen point from an art supply store if you want a finer line. Silver nitrate is light sensitive so take just what you plan to use from the dark bottle and discard any left when you finish instead of returning it to the botle. Adding a little food coloring to the solution you are working with might make your designs easier to see as you apply it. If it is too thin for your technique consider adding a little granulated or powdered sugar to thicken it unless you plan to cap over the design with clear.

Best wishes,
Tom in Texas

Tony Smith · Post by **Tony Smith** » Fri Jan 02, 2004 7:12 am

A drop or two of Klyr Fire should thicken the solution enough to use it through the Kemper pen.

Tony

Rebecca M. · Post by **Rebecca M.** » Fri Jan 02, 2004 10:03 am

Seattle Pottery lists a silver-gray Hanovia luster. The site doesn't have many pictures though. Would silver mica work? Pearl-Ex makes a silver.

Tony Smith · Post by **Tony Smith** » Fri Jan 02, 2004 10:58 am

Becca wrote:Seattle Pottery lists a silver-gray Hanovia luster. The site doesn't have many pictures though. Would silver mica work? Pearl-Ex makes a silver.

Whatever she uses needs to have real silver in it to react with the french vanilla

Tony

Amy Schleif-Mohr · Post by **Amy Schleif-Mohr** » Fri Jan 02, 2004 11:08 am

Right Tony, I am looking to get the chemical reaction. I do have something that is working but just wanted to explore some more applications.

Amy

Tony Smith · Post by **Tony Smith** » Fri Jan 02, 2004 11:58 am

Amy Schleif-Mohr wrote:Right Tony, I am looking to get the chemical reaction. I do have something that is working but just wanted to explore some more applications.

Amy

Amy,

Photographers Formulary sells Silver Nitrate in smaller quantities of 10 grams for $10. They are in Montana.
http://www.photoformulary.com/DesktopMo ... 0&langId=0

Tony

Amy Schleif-Mohr · Post by **Amy Schleif-Mohr** » Fri Jan 02, 2004 1:18 pm

Cool, thanks.