Unleash your creativity with Mayco’s Jungle Gems™ Crystal Glazes. These stunning glazes allow ceramic artists to add color and depth to their designs with ease. Use alone for stunning effects, in glaze combination blending with Stroke & Coats®, Foundations® or Cobblestones or simply as an accent to your design.
General Use
Crystal glazes were designed to mature at cone 06/05. Shake the jar well and stir during the application process. Apply two to three even coats to shelf cone 04 bisque with a fan brush, allow to dry between coats. We recommend a soft fan brush, such as CB-604 #4 or CB-618 #8 Soft Fan, for glaze application. Stir frequently as crystals tend to settle in the jar due to their weight. Re-distribution of crystals may be required during the final coat. Where you see the crystal is where you will see it bloom. Avoid heavy application of crystals at the bottom of ware as the crystals bloom and can adhere to the kiln shelves or stilts. The crystals in the glaze will melt when fired, which may create a textured surface. Jungle Gems™ Crystal Glazes have a natural crazing that occurs when the crystals “bloom”. As that surface may be difficult to properly clean if in contact with food, we recommend crystal glazes to be used on decorative ware.
Jungle Gems™ Crystal Glazes have been formulated to mature at cone 06/05. However can be fired at higher temperatures. Their performance at cone 6 is noted on each individual product label. Crystals tend to flow at higher temperatures so take care on vertical pieces. We recommend testing on your clay body and in your kiln prior to use.
Jungle Gems ™ glazes are certified AP Non-Toxic, with the exception of CG-707 Woodland Fantasy and CG-713 Peacock Green which requires a caution label, CL, due to soluble copper and CG-973 Alligator due to barium.
Jungle Gems™ Crystal Glazes are recommended for ornamental use only when applied to low fire earthenware clay bodies. All but three Jungle Gems™ glazes have been certified as Non-Toxic, suitable for use by artists of all ages when used according to manufacturer’s directions. Jungle Gems™ are not recommended for dinnerware produced from low fire earthenware clay bodies as these glazes can exhibit surface textures such as cracks and crevices. While the glazed surface may pass lead & cadmium leach tests, and therefore legally considered Food Safe, attempts to adequately clean the textured surface may cause the underlying porous ware to absorb water and fail. Jungle Gems™ glazes may be considered dinnerware safe if surface texture is eliminated when firing to mid-range or high fire temperatures.
Helpful Hints:
- Shake well prior to each application coat. The reason for this recommendation is that the crystals will settle to the bottom of the jar in a short period of time. If you notice the crystals settling during an application you can either dip your brush to the bottom of the jar to re-dispense or attach the lid and shake vigorously.
- During the application of the third coat of glaze, you may find it necessary to re-distribute crystals or add crystals, on your piece to assure balanced coverage. Use your brush to push crystals onto thinly covered areas or dip your brush into the jar and gather crystals onto it, then “pat” them on the sparsely covered areas.
- We recommend a broad, soft brush, such as a CB-604 #4 or CB-618 #8 Soft Fan Brush, to apply crystal glazes. The fan brush may help more in the even disbursement of the crystals, thus creating a more pleasing pattern in the fired glaze.
- Jungle Gems™ were designed to fire to cone 06. Higher temperature firings will change the colors from cone 06 results and movement and flow WILL increase.
