the_black_art_of_drying_ceramics_without_cracks_196 Oxides | Minerals | Materials | Recipes | Articles | Glossary | Hazards | Library | MDT | Pictures | Properties | Schedules | Temperatures | Tests | Troubles | Typecodes You should always be testing. But it is wasted without an audit trail. Document your lifetime of recipes, firing schedules, test results, pictures and much more in a private account at insight-live.com. It is the future, the next step after desktop Digitalfire Insight. Section: Clay Bodies, Subsection: General Description Anything can be dried if it is done slowly and evenly enough. Article I admit it again. Ware shrinks when it dries. How can you get more uniform drying? Isolate the stage in the process where variations in water content within a piece (drying gradients) are first introduced (i.e. an early unshielded draft, ware left out too long). The "nirvana" of drying is a humidity controlled batch or continuous drying chamber. Give consideration to each type of piece being dried, think of its special drying needs.
Paper Clay, Magic Water, Magic Mud recipe, slip - Lakeside Pottery Ceramic school and Art Studio in Stamford Connecticut When to use Magic Water? Magic water is used when the bond between two pieces of clay is a suspect for cracking during drying or bisque firing. Cracks can occur in the following conditions: When one piece of clay dries faster than the other which typically occurs when it has a smaller mass or thinner than the other piece (e.g., a mug handle). When one clay piece is applied to another piece that is already a dryer leather-hard (e.g., when waiting is required for a thrown pot to harden before applying hand-built piece). The above two conditions are more susceptible to cracking because when one piece is dryer that the other, it is therefore shrunk more than the other and will not continue to shrink uniformly after they are attached to each other, thus - creating stress. When to use Magic Mud / Paper Clay? Why does Magic Water work? Why does Magic Mud /Paper Clay work?
About Colored Clay Techniques About Colored Clays and the Techniques Used in My Work If you have questions about my work or my techniques, please contact me. Choice of Clays Any claybody can be used for colored clay work, but existing color in the clay (as in a tan stoneware clay) will limit the range of color possibilities when colorants are added. For this reason, most potters generally use a porcelain, porcelaineous stoneware, or white earthenware body. Choice of Colorants Clays can be colored with standard coloring oxides, or with commercial fritted stains like Mason stains. For colors in the bright orange and red range, the more expensive zirconium-encapsulated inclusion-stains can give good results, although the specific fluxes in the claybody seem to affect color response, and fairly high percentages of inclusion stains are often needed to get intense colors. My Own Approach For my colored clay work, I mix a porcelaineous stoneware claybody and add Mason stains to produce a broad palette of colored clays.