Greenbarn Potter's Supply Ltd.

View Catalog

Normal Hours of Operation

Open Mo-Fr 8:30-5PM, closed Sat, Sun and long weekends.

Next closures for stat holidays are for Truth & Reconciliation Day, closed Oct 2, and Thanksgiving, closed Oct 9.

Information

Home

About

Map

Ordering Information

Covid-19

Plainsman Products

Clays

Low Temperature Clays

Medium Temperature Clays

High Temperature Clays

Porcelains

Other Clays

Native Clays

Casting Slips

Materials

Dry Materials

Stains

Liquids

Encapsulated Stains

Glazes

Low Fire Glazes

Medium Fire Glazes

Liquid Brights

Underglazes

Spectrum 500 Underglazes

Underglaze Tools

Amaco Velvet Underglazes

Enamelling

Enamelling Supplies

Enamelling Tools

Equipment

Kilns

Potter's Wheels

Slab Rollers

Hand Extruders

Pugmills

Scales

Banding Wheels

Air Brushes

Tools

Brushes

Throwing Tools

Trimming, Turning, Cutting Tools

Wood/Bamboo Tools

Wire and Wood Tools

Rollers/Stamps

Decorating Tools

Glazing Tools

Ribs & Scrapers

Ribbon/Wire Tools

Rasps

Knives, Needle Tools, Cutters

Sculpture Tools

Tool Kits

Unclassified

Accessories

Miscellaneous Accesories

Corks/Stoppers

Cork Pads

Oil Lamp Accessories

Dispenser Pumps

Teapot Handles

Bisque Tiles

Western Canada's largest distributor of pottery materials and supplies. Clays, raw materials, tools, wheels, kilns, slabrollers, books & much more.

Our continuing goal is to supply artists, potters and crafts people with great quality products, knowledge and customer service. Our staff is familiar with all the items we stock and can help you through the selection and ordering process. We will also see that your order is shipped according to your directions, or put together for pick up at our retail store in Surrey, BC.

Career Available - Invoicing and A/R's - as of Sep 15, 2023

Hi Everyone,

Greenbarn is looking for a full time staff member to help us with office work such as invoicing, A/R's, and other duties as required. We are happy to provide training, and we are looking for someone with an easy going personality, someone who can work well with our customers, and who also fits in with our friendly, long term staff.

Greenbarn offers you a chance to:

* learn more about this wonderful art form, increase your skills, use staff discounts

* competitive pay, vacation days, benefits package

* a Christmas/New Year's break so that you can be with your family

* and a great place to work where both our friendly customers and staff have been consistent for many years

If you, or someone you know, might be interested, please have them send us their resume to sales@greenbarn.com, and we would be happy to meet with them! Thank you for your support and for reading!

Kilns for Sale - oddballs need good homes!

The following two kilns are in stock, brand new in the box, and are now discounted until each are sold!

1. Skutt Scarab, Flameworking Glass Kiln, 27x16x12" inside, 240volt/1phase. $8335 reg.

- now on sale at 40% less. $5001 + tax

2. Skutt Scarab Mini, Flameworking Glass Kiln, 12x16x12" inside, 240volt/1phase. $6055 reg.

- now on sale at 40% less. $3633 + tax

Sculpture Materials on Sale!

The following items are now discounted while stock remains!

1. Roma Plastilina, Grey/Green, oil based clay, offered in soft/med/firm

- now at 25% discount. Sale priced at $19.19/2Lb block + tax

2. Armature Wire (not intended for firing within a kiln):

- 1/16" by 32' roll: now at 25% discount. Sale priced at $6.19/roll + tax

- 3/16" by 10' roll: now at 25% discount. Sale priced at $11.49/roll + tax

- 3/8" by 10' roll: now at 25% discount. Sale priced at $17.89/roll + tax

Technical Tips Blog

Two methods to make your own low SG brushing glaze.

500ml jar of brushing glaze

Dipping glaze applies and dries in seconds. Brushing glazes dry slowly and dry hard. Brushing glazes simply have gum in the recipe, dipping glazes typically do not. This is the Alberta Slip cone 6 base, made jet black with 4% black ceramic stain (our code G3914A). We normally mix this as a dipping glaze but I have made a 500ml jar of low SG brushing version using both of the following methods. These methods will work for almost any glaze recipe (for those having exceptionally high clay content less Veegum is needed).

1) Shake together, in a plastic bag, 340g of mixed glaze powder with 5g of Veegum and 5g of CMC gum. Add that to 440g of water in a kitchen blender and mix on high speed until it gels (the gums resist mixing so the highest speed for at least 30 seconds is needed to prevent lumps).

2) Take 680g of dipping glaze (assuming it is about 50:50 water:powder you get 340g of dry), put that in the blender with another 80g of water and proceed as in method 1. Less total water is being used because the dipping glaze might not be exactly 50:50 water:powder. During mixing, if it gels too much add the extra 20g of water.

This is so exciting that I make fancy labels, they are just ink-jetted onto regular paper, cut 62mm wide (2 7/16") and held securely on with 2 7/8" transparent packing tape.

Context: Cone 6 oil-spot glaze.., Two black cone 6.., Alberta Slip based black.., Why would I use.., Here is my setup.., Base Glaze, Blender Mixing

Sunday 1st October 2023

A bucket of glaze smells totally rank! What to do?

A bucket of glaze slurry that smells really bad

In some places and climates, this is more of a problem than in others. It is often not something that can just be ignored because the rheology of the slurry will likely be affected. Is there a magic chemical one can dump in to fix it? Not really. The subject of microorganisms in glaze slurries can be as complicated as you want to make it. This is because there are just so many different things that could be causing the stink. And there is no one chemical that treats them all. Even if there was, it's use would be focussed on prevention rather than fixing a problem. And, it would being its own issues, hazards and specific procedures. There are some simple things to know about dealing with microorganisms in glazes that should enable to you keep relatively free of this issue.

Context: Micro Organisms

Sunday 24th September 2023

Here is my setup to make brushing glazes by-the-jar

Glaze mixing setup

To make a low SG version of G2934BL I have already weighed out a 340g batch (it contains 5g each of Veegum and CMC gum to gel the slurry and slow the drying). I use 440g of water initially (adjusting that according to experience in brushing behaviour). After shake-mixing all the powder in the plastic bag I pour it into the water on low speed and finish with 20 seconds on high speed. This produces a low specific gravity brushing glaze, it just fills this 500ml jar. In subsequent batches, I adjust the Veegum for more or less gel and the CMC for slower or faster drying. Later I also assess whether the CMC gum is being degraded by microbial attack - often evident if the slurry thins and loses its gel. Since each glaze recipe responds differently and changes differently over time, good notes are essential. We are working on dozens of these at any given time, each is code-numbered in our group account at Insight-live.com. This is so worthwhile doing that I make quality custom labels for each jar!

Context: CMC Gum, Two methods to make.., Learn to mix any.., Control gel by adding.., Brushing Glaze, Blender Mixing

Wednesday 20th September 2023

Ravenscrag Slip + 10% talc = fantastic cone 10R silky matte glaze

Two mugs with silky matte glaze

The clays are Plainsman H450 and H550. Firing is cone 10 reduction. A 50:50 mix of roasted and raw Ravenscrag slip was used. L3954N black engobe was applied at leather hard stage (on the insides and partway down the outsides). We call this recipe GR10-C Ravenscrag Talc Matte, it is on the insides of both and on the outside of the one on the left. The outside of the other is G2571A Bamboo, it is also an excellent matte base. The silky matte surfaces produced by these two are both functional (they are very durable and do not stain or cutlery mark). And they are very pleasant to the touch.

Context: Ravenscrag Slip 19 F.., Ravenscrag Slip, GR10-C, Ravenscrag Slip 1 F.., Dolomite Matte

Tuesday 19th September 2023

This titanium blue fails when we switch frits

A change that kills a floating blue

The L4655 floating blue recipe is on the outside of the mug. It adds titanium to the GA6-A base. We wanted to reduce the thermal expansion to minimize the likelihood of crazing. So the obvious question was: Could we substitute the Ferro Frit 3134 for Frit 3195 in the base (effectively using GA6-B instead of GA6-A)? The calculation showed that the thermal expansion should drop from 7.6 to 7.2. Unfortunately, it did not work. The two tiles in the front show that (the one on the right adds 2% iron, we thought that might enhance the rutile blue effect). Why did this fail? Likely the raising of the Al2O3 makes the melt stiffer, that is preventing the freedom of movement needed to form the crystalline phases.

Context: Crystallization of this glaze..

Friday 15th September 2023

Sometimes it is better to replace the base in a production glaze recipe

Almost all ceramic glazes are a base recipe with additions of colors, opacifiers, variegators, etc. Our traditional G3933 oatmeal glaze is a good example (recipe on the left). It can produce rich brown silky matte surfaces, especially on dark burning bodies. But one problem has emerged: The tendency to crawl. Much testing has yet to reveal the reason. Would it be possible to base the recipe on Ravenscrag Slip and achieve the same chemistry? Yes. And some unexpected benefits accrued. In the recipe on the right I sourced MgO (the key to the matte surface) from dolomite and Ferro Frit frit 3249 (earlier tests sourcing from talc were unsuccessful, off-gassing from the talc was puffing up the glaze with micro-bubbles). The all-new G3933E recipe has the same chemistry (I derived it in my account at insight-live.com). It is not likely to be without problems, but it looks identical (with richer color from a little more iron oxide), it does not crawl and it's recipe and chemistry are flexible. It is glossy when cooled fast and silky matte when cooled slowly. The MgO can be increased easily to get matteness with quick cool also. The mix of calcine and raw Ravenscrag Slip also enable control over the slurry and application properties.

Context: Ravenscrag Slip, Base Glaze, Glaze Chemistry

Friday 15th September 2023

Making Tandoor Ovens - how is that possible without the clay cracking?

Making Tandoor ovens

The making of Tandoor ovens seems ordinary to someone from a country where they are made. But it seems impossible to me (based on my lifetime experience working with clay). I would love to learn from someone in India the answers to these questions (based on the video links below), can you please message me if you can help?

-Clay shrinks when it dries. The more water it has the more it shrinks. When it dries unevenly it shrinks unevenly. Uneven drying means it cracks. The rim on these Tandoors should dry and become rigid long before the bases. Cracks should thus occur part way down the wall as the base tries to shrink against the already-dry rim. Why is this not happening?

-Dried clay is not rock hard, it can be turned back into mud if it gets wet. Why don't those ovens disintegrate in the rain?

-To do what the craftsmen and women do with the clay it would need to be very plastic (and thus have high drying shrinkage). Where the crew is building the six ovens beside the carriage the friction and drag on the ground should cause them to form cracks from the ground upward. Or they should pull to an oval shape. Why does this not happen?

-Wet clay cannot be joined to dry clay. The wet clay needs to shrink. How is it possible they are doing exactly this?

-Am I underestimating the degree to which the straw addition reduces the shrinkage of the clay? But plastic clay needs to shrink 10% whether there is straw or not. How can this work? Even if the straw could cut shrinkage to 5% that is still 1.5 inches on a 30 in diameter Base.

-Are they using a body high in ball clay? How else could the clay be plastic enough for this work if not?

Context: A team handbuilding without.., A woman making a.., Man making a base..,

Sunday 10th September 2023

A pottery glaze so melt-fluid it can eat through a firebrick. The fix struck boron-blue gold!

A glaze eats though a firebrick

The melt fluidity tester was fired at cone 6. The glaze on the left is G2826A2, a 50:30:20 Gerstley Borate glaze historically used for reactive glazes. The one on the right is G2926A3, an adjusted version that cuts the B2O3 level and adds lots of SiO2. The result is much more sane, although still very melt-fluid glaze. This is also a lesson in the chemistry that produces boron-blue, the one on the left does not and the one on the right does. This is the most decorative boron-blue we have ever seen, especially on dark bodies. Why? High B2O3 is not the key, it is lower. CaO is lower but it was higher in the original 50:30:20 recipe and that had plenty of boron blue. The SiO2 appears to be the enabler, it is much higher. And we are using 325 mesh silica, so it dissolves in the melt better.

Context: Example of variegation by.., Gillespie Borate is doing.., Boron Blue, Melt Fluidity

Friday 8th September 2023

Example of variegation by thickness-induced boron blue

Boron blue on a black stoneware body

This is G2826A3, a transparent amber glaze at cone 6 on white (Plainsman M370), black (Plainsman 3B + 6% Mason 6666 black stain) and red (Plainsman M390) stoneware bodies. When the glaze is thinly applied it is transparent. But at a tipping-point-thickness it generates boron-blue that transforms it into a milky white.

Context: A pottery glaze so.., Boron Blue, Glaze thickness

Friday 8th September 2023

Here is why Gillespie Borate is crawling some glazes

Gillespie Borate crawls glazes because of this

This is a variation on the 50:30:20 cone 6 pottery glaze recipe, it contains 22% Gillespie Borate (GB) and 12% calcined kaolin. Our objective was to reduce its melt fluidity. But the crawling is so bad that it is almost unusable. The reason was not obvious until we fired a sample to 1550F and 1650F. At the former the integrity of the glaze layer is great, but by 1650F it does this (many of the edges of these are curling upward). Ulexite, which GB contains, is known for the behaviour of suddenly shrinking and then suddenly melting over a narrow range of temperatures. Since GB is plastic and suspends slurries well we thought calcined kaolin would be better than raw kaolin (to minimize drying shrinkage). However, the improvement is minimal.

Context: Gillespie Borate, Gerstley Borate vs Gillespie..

Thursday 7th September 2023

SignUp For Monthly Tech-Tip Email

Please visit https://digitalfire.com and use the Register feature at the top of the page. No art or sales language, no tracking and no ads. To find past posts please use the search bar on this page.

Greenbarn Potter's Supply Ltd., 9548 - 192nd Street, SURREY, BC V4N 3R9
Phone: 604-888-3411, FAX: 604-888-4247, Email: sales@greenbarn.com