There is a lot of confusion about our china paints ....and the chemical reactions that happen in the firing process that cause them to change, dull and even disappear.... so it is hoped that this page will help to clarify things. left: "Autumne" a painting by Marci Blattenberger proving that vivid reds, yellows and oranges can coexist on the same piece... (This piece was done in 4 fires, the first 3 fired to an 015 cone and the last fire to an 016, using Rosebud's paints and liberally mixing all the cadmium colors to obtain the foliage. )

cadmium colors are Green Green, Red Shoes, Red Apple, Yellow Brick Road, Sun Kist, Orange Delight;

gold content are Purple Punch, Purple, Raspberry, Am. Beauty, Tea Party Pink

Rusty red is a color that has limited mixability. Other colors are fully intermixable

The following information will give you a better understanding of these two groupings . Cadmium groupings of yellows and reds 1. Cadmium colors come from the element cadmium which comes from the earth. Cd is the chemical abbreviation for cadmium. 2. Cadmium is a very fragile element and in the firing process, it needs to be treated in a special way . ( Rules follow below) 3. Cadmium colors come in a range of yellow to orange to red. 4. Cadmium colors are bright, vivid, crystal clear and intense. Regular groupings of yellows and reds 1.The regular groupings come from different elements ( minerals) of the earth. For example: these reds come from antimony and these reds come from iron. 2. When using yellows and reds, immediately think." I have to be careful here." 3. The reds in this grouping are made from iron. The reds made from iron are also fragile in the kiln and they need to be treated with respect, but the rules are different than for the cadmium colors. Be sure to read the rules below. 4.Iron reds are intense but they are rusty looking. Think of rusty nails They do not have the clarity of the cadmium reds. Rules for using these two groupings Rules for CADMIUM grouping: 1.There are eight colors in my cadmium grouping. Because they are all made from cadmium, they can be intermixed with each other. For example: the Christmas red can be mixed with the Cadmium yellow to make orange. 2. PLEASE NOTE: the cadmium colors are fragile and cannot be mixed with any other china painting colors. 3. Other colors can be placed next to the cadmium colors but they cannot overlap. 4 In a second fire , they still cannot overlap. For example, you cannot shade a cadmium poppy red in a second fire with an iron red. It will not work. 5. PLEASE: keep your cadmium colors on a separate palette and use them ONLY when you are doing bright, vivid poppies, tropical birds and flowers, Baltimore Orioles or Chinese lanterns. Save them for special occasions and respect the rules. 6. These colors can be fired between 018 and 017 Jr. cone ( 1386-1443 F or 752-783 C) Rules for Regular grouping including the Iron reds: 1. Because these five color families use different minerals ( elements) of the earth, they CANNOT be freely intermixed.The Iron colors are fragile and unstable when mixed with certain yellows and the yellow-browns, so you have to respect this and find colors that work together. 2. My mixing yellow can safely be mixed with wine red, dull red, red grape and violet of iron. DO NOT mix the mixing yellow with the poppy, yellow red, Persian red and blood red. 3. Do NOT mix anything with the Iron reds that has a yellow brownish look. The result will be unstable and unpredictable in the firing process.It may work sometimes and not others. 4. The same rules apply in subsequent firings because when it goes in the kiln again, all the colors melt together again. 5. It is the yellows, yellow-browns, and yellow-oranges that cause the problem with the Iron reds. You can mix green with with Iron reds but NOT yellow greens.You can mix black with Iron reds or blue with Iron reds. Just stay away from the yellow families. 6. These colors can be fired around 018 Jr. cone ( 1386 F or 752 C) IN SUMMARY Whether working with the cadmium colors or the iron reds and yellows of the regular groupings of china paints, you must immediately think of them as special. They need to be respected.You need to follow the rules to be successful. Of course, you may experiment beyond the rules, but you must realize you're taking a risk of the reds firing out.This is because when you break the rules, an unstable and unpredictable environment is created in the firing process because of the fragileness of the cadmium and iron pigments. There is one other problem that needs to be addressed here. I am asked this question over and over at demonstrations: "How do I know if the color is a cadmium color or an iron color?" I can only speak for my own brand of Carousel Colors which I have developed so I know the ingredients. ( NOTE from Marci: As far as I know, Joyce's Carousel Colors are still available.....and in the first part of this article is a breakdown of the composition of Rosebud's Perfection Paints which can be found on the catalog page of PPIO.......I will also add the composition of any specific brands of colors if anyone wants to send the information to me.) I label all my cadmium colors ( Carousel brand paints) with the word Cadmium or with the abbreviation, which is Cd. If it is not labeled with cadmium, then you know it is from the regular line. Within the regular line, I want you to know that I named "mixing yellow" with that name to indicate that it is a yellow that mixes with the iron red family, as listed in number two of the regular grouping above. You also have to assume some responsibility and make fired color swatches of your colors so you know which colors work successfully with each other. As far as other manufacturers go, I can only suggest that you ask if they are iron colors or cadmium colors. If they don't know, ask them to find out. They have a responsibility to also, to educate you about their product so you can work successfully with it. We all need to make an effort to be well informed and then our paintings will be more exciting and more successful. Working with reds and yellows is a pleasure once you know what you are doing and understand the colors with which you are working. I am having a great time painting vivid paintings with the cadmium colors . Joyce Berlew-China Decorator -November 1988

Let's Talk About China Paints... Twentieth Century Improvements by Joyce Berlew China Decorator, February 1988 reprinted with permission from the China Decorator If you have been china painting for any length of time, I'm sure you have been told you cant do this and you cant do that with china paints, until you wonder ... "What can I do?" Thanks to modern research in the production of china paints, there are really very few limitations with china paints. They are as easy to use as oils and watercolors. There are now available modern twentieth century china paints that have been researched and developed over the last ten years. (Note: this article was originally published in 1988) The dinnerware factories have demanded safer colors and some paint manufacturers have risen to the challenge to produce paints which limit the release of heavy metals to a minimum. These new china paints meet the demands our modern households expect from utilityware. They can be used in the dishwasher and they are designed to have low lead release properties, provided that the correct firing conditions are followed. I believe we need to move forward and take advantage of these modern advancements in paint technology. In improving the quality, the manufacturers also sought to eliminate the problems and limitations of the graininess of paint.Purples and pinks and some blues and violets have traditionally been grainy. This is no longer a problem with the new low-lead release paints. The graininess has been done away with.

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF OVERGLAZE COLORS by Betty Turner You can just about bet on it that any Cadmium/Selenium color is the really pure bright yellows, oranges, and fire-engine reds (Christmas reds). The gold colors are the rubies, violets, some pinks, purples, etc. (Price also reflects the cost of gold) The regular colors are also mixable with some of the gold colors, but not Cadmium/Selenium colors. They should be applied heavily, not in washes, as they will burn out in washes. They are cannibalistic to other colors when even fired side by side. (I have placed them touching other colors and they form a small black line between the other colors. As all of our colors are mineral colors, they will react differently with others as the combination of the different minerals will react under heat differently. There are mixing yellows, Iron oranges, rust shades, etc. that will mix with one another. Yellows are made from silver, and other minerals. If you pick up a good Pottery decoration book at the library, it will tell you what colors are made from and mixed with to give all of our colors. Most reds are iron oxide reds but they tend to go to the brownish reds, not fire Engine reds which are cadmium/ selenium based. Iron reds fire out the easiest.......it is my nemesis as I do a lot of animal portraits of our breed of dogs (Cavaliers) and the yellow reds are the WORST!!!!!!!!!! (Question from Linda to our mailing list): "A question I have is this, if different colors fire at different temps, do you have to paint in order from hottest fire colors to lowest? Or is the color red, once fired, permanent and won't change if you then go back and paint higher fire colors afterwards?" (Betty's answer): You are correct in that colors which burn out should be fired last at preferably cone 018 while other colors require a hotter fire to mature. These are basically the gold colors. I have had to fire gold rubies, pinks, etc at .015 to mature. If the gold colors turn brownish they are underfired. The ones to burn out the most are Cadmium/ Selenium colors and they need to be applied rather thickly.....not in washes as they will burn out or turn gray. Also Cad/Sel colors need to be fired in an oxidized kiln atmosphere to look their best. (Note from Marci: this means that propping up the lid a bit to let oxygen into the kiln will benefit these colors.) Iron reds, yellows and yellow reds are the colors which burn out the easiest. Also they are cannibalized by the yellows. It helps to add a little yellow brown to them to keep them from burning out the other color. The book "The Anthology of a Porcelain Artist" by Gladys Burbank Nelson is an excellent book for the beginning porcelain artist and explains a lot. Yellows are fine, it is just the red that is eaten out by the yellows. When U fire then next to each other there is no problem, it is just when U mix them. Use mixing yellow when U mix with iron colors. Most yellows are made from silver and this is the problem in that it eats out iron colors. Also when yellows are placed under gold it will turn the gold and make it dull.

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF OVERGLAZE COLORS by Harry Hugar On some Redssuch as cherry and yellow red are selenium colors. Pompadours, blood reds are Iron Oxides. Most yellows are cadmium, some have greater amounts than others. Some Yellows contain silver and or mercury also.

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