97. What is Rutile in Pottery and What are the Alternatives
Oxford Clay Podcast
Episode 97: What is Rutile in Pottery and What are the Alternatives
Rutile is a form of Titanium ore with Iron deposits and is used in pottery to create brown, orange and yellow colours in pottery glazes. Rutile is also used to create beautiful speckled effects in glazes.
However, there are some issues with the global Rutile mining industry, such as high energy consumption and the displacement of people from land, in order to mine Rutile.
If you didn’t want to use Rutile in your pottery, there are alternatives to using Rutile in glazes! Plant ashes (particularly ash from fallen leaves), for example, often create rutile-looking pottery glazes.
Here are 4 of my favourite eco-conscious Rutile-like pottery glaze recipes. All the recipes in this episode are from the book: eBook Eco-conscious Pottery Colour — Oxford Clay Handmade Ceramics
✨Recipe 6 from ‘Eco-Conscious Pottery Colour’
40 parts - Cornish Stone
40 parts - Indian bean tree leaf ash (from naturally fallen leaves in the Autumn)
20 parts - Quartz rock
✨Recipe 63 from ‘Eco-Conscious Pottery Colour’
40 parts - Cornish Stone
40 parts - Rhubarb leaf ash (naturally died back in the Autumn)
20 parts - Quartz rock
✨Recipe 64 from ‘Eco-Conscious Pottery Colour’
40 parts - Cornish Stone
40 parts - Rose bush leaf ash (from naturally fallen leaves in the Autumn)
20 parts - Quartz rock
+1% - Hymod Ball Clay
+1% - Red Clay
+0.2% - Verdigris
✨Recipe 78 from ‘Eco-Conscious Pottery Colour’
40 parts - Cornish Stone
40 parts - Fig tree leaf ash (from naturally fallen leaves in the Autumn)
20 parts - Quartz rock
+ 3% - Verdigris
The journal articles referred to in this episode are:
Farjana, S. H. et al. (2018) Towards sustainable TiO2 production: An investigation of environmental impacts of ilmenite and rutile processing routes in Australia. Journal of cleaner production, 2018-09, Vol.196, p.1016-1025.
Sigismond A. Wilson (2019) Mining-induced displacement and resettlement: The case of rutile mining communities in Sierra Leone. Journal of sustainable mining, 2019-05, Vol.18 (2), p.67-76.
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