Thursday 26 April 2012

Another day, another clay

This is my last post about mixing clay for a while, I promise! This morning I've been wedging up the new clay with around 60% Earthstone Original and 40% Original Raku. The photo shows how much more plastic it is:


The clay on the right has more iron oxide as I tried adding some red stoneware clay to it to make it more plastic, but to no avail. I'm not sure how I can improve this body without adding more and more smooth clay. I can throw with it okay, but it's easy to trap air bubbles when kneading.



I made a couple of bottle vases with it yesterday, but I am more pleased with the shape of the one at the front, which was thrown a few days ago.

2 comments:

  1. Great post. I like reading about finding right clay body. I have one commercial clay body that needs to sit a couple of months and a porcelain that I wait to throw when it is mossy. Another way to add plasticity is adding some ball clay. In recycling clay, adding vinegar and a little ball clay helps. I like all three of your bottles. They each have nice form.

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    1. Thank you, Charlene, for the kind words and advice. I'll be recycling plenty of this clay, so I'll try the things you suggest. I'd never heard of adding vinegar before!

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