Vitracolour Stain - Coral

Vitracolour Stain - Coral

Stains are powdered colours which are made up of a blend of metallic oxides. They have been high fired in a process called sintering (being heated, which changes its chemical structure) this then makes them safer than other colouring agents. They can be used in a glaze, a decorating slip or added to a clay to make a coloured body. When used with a medium you can paint onto an unfired glazed surface and with an addition of a flux (the underglaze frit) it can be applied to greenware or bisque.

General tips and working notes

As you will see from the display photos, there will be variations with the same stain at different firing temperatures, in general they will be brighter at lower temperatures than higher. Some colours will be picky with some base/host glazes. And the percentage strengths will be different across the colours, for example the dark blue is so strong you will only need a little %, yet a pink will need more.

With some refractory stain colours, red, orange, yellow they may develop micro-bubbling in a glaze, but this can be reduced with a little stain enhancer (2% of the dry weight of powdered glaze). It will not only make the colour more intense but bubble free. Look out for the recommendations with each colour.

Be aware that certain colours can affect the melt of a clay body or glaze. For example, the blue contains cobalt which will act like a flux, so make sure you test and protect your shelves and kiln against glaze/clay dribbling or melting.

The advice above suggests that before you commit to buying and working with stains, please test. We sell the stains in 50g and 100g amounts. The stain enhancer and underglaze frit are available in 100g amounts.

Health and safety information

Our stains are European sourced and lead free.

*Top firing temperature 1300 degrees, do not go above this temperature as the stains can break down and release their toxic ingredients.

*See individual colours for the temperature advice.

When used in conjunction with a host glaze, do check and test for compatibility. If you are glazing wares that will be in contact with food or drink, then use stains to the minimum % and with a host glaze that is very shiny. It is possible for ingredients within the stain to leach if the host glaze is not compatible. If you are selling to the public then we advise you get your wares and glazes tested, see our food safety advice.

There is a lot to understand about stains and their safe use, they are more complicated than they might first appear. We recommend further reading digitalfire’s wonderful online resource on the subject of ‘stains’.

Stains are sold as a powder so we recommend using a P3 dust mask, gloves are also a sensible suggestion. Although stains are safer than colouring agents such as oxides, carbonates etc, we do suggest treating them in the same way, so do not eat and drink during handling, wash your hands after use, wear protective clothes and do not work in the domestic environment. Do not let children work with them in their pure dry form.

Notes for individual colours

Coral

Zirconium/Silicon/Iron

This stain is an encapsulated stain or inclusion stain. This means it uses the chemical matrix of the zirconium to stabilize it. This is a strong stain, so at 8% it is as good as it will get, we noticed on the underglaze it is brown not pink, this might be due to the common underglaze frit we are using. We will in future be trying another ingredient to see if this works better. Coral is one colour along with yellow and turquoise can make many other colours.