[Clayart] lithium is twice the price

[mel jacobson via Clayart]

Lithium is double the price of spodemine.
cannot get ahead of the game.
geez.

website: www.melpots.com
WWW.clayartarchives.com

[Dragonbelly Ceramics via Clayart]

Can we substitute a different alkali metal for at least part of the
lithium? I know that lithium is a very powerful melter, and to get the same
melt, any glaze would probably need more boron. But is lithium otherwise so
special we couldn't find a way to recreate a given glaze with less?

Best,
LJ

www.ljcbluemuse.blogspot.com
www.ljcohen.net

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.clayartforum.com/pipermail/clayart/attachments/20250816/7ae8d9bb/attachment.htm>

[David Finkelnburg via Clayart]

LJ,
Lithium has a low coefficient of thermal expansion. Thus in a glaze it
can offset the higher CoE of sodium and other fluxes. Glaze-body "fit" is
especially important in functional ware.
However, if more than 10 to 15% of flux carbonates in glazes for
functional ware need to come from lithium to achieve "fit," a prudent
course of action is to adjust the clay body recipe to a somewhat higher CoE
so the clay can fit glazes with less lithium or even none at all.
Btw, if too much lithium is present in a glaze, the glaze will tend to
be too fluid and to crystallize.
All the best
Dave

URL: <https://lists.clayartforum.com/pipermail/clayart/attachments/20250816/986cbcc9/attachment.htm>

[William Schran via Clayart]

Regarding lithium and spodumene, and of course the good ol' Gerstley
Borate (that I began using back in the 1970's as a substitute for
Colemanite.... I replaced Gerstley years ago using a boron frit. Ferro
frit #3134 mostly, #3124 if more alumina was needed and #3195 for
higher percent of boron. For my cone 6 crystalline glazes I've used
Ferro frit #3110 for years. Some time back I began including a frit
GF106, then that was no longer made and switched to Fusion frit #413.
I've now included Fusion frit #644, but that has issues of slight
solubility due to high sodium content - so I mix smaller fresh batches
as needed.
I write all this as a prelude to suggesting one may want to
investigate using a frit as a substitute for lithium or spodumene.Ran
across this on digitalfire:
https://digitalfire.com/material/fusion+frit+f-493And while searching
for substitutes came across this:
https://www.lagunaclay.com/products/spodumene-sub?variant=46979244884210
I imagine this must be a frit, and a search in digitalfire gave me
this: https://digitalfire.com/material/laguna+spodumene+substitute

Bill

William Schran...@twc.com703-505-1617

-----------------------------------------From: "David Finkelnburg via
Clayart"
To: "Clayart international pottery discussion forum"
Cc: "David Finkelnburg"
Sent: Sunday August 17 2025 5:55:25AM
Subject: Re: [Clayart] lithium is twice the price

/> > >

>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:

/>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...

URL: <https://lists.clayartforum.com/pipermail/clayart/attachments/20250817/3f2fe109/attachment.htm>