John Post on tue 3 jun 97
At 08:55 AM 6/2/97 EDT, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>At the request of my advanced students, I am soliciting the following:
>
>Away from store brought claybodies what is your favorite body formula?
>
>a. Raku
>
The Raku body that I have the best results with is one of Robert
Piepenburg's that I modified slightly.
Piepenburg's Throwing Body
100# Hawthorn Bond Clay
50# No. 5 Tennessee Ball Clay
30# Virginia Kyanite 48 mesh
I use the following variation (Based on ingredients I normally have in my
studio)...
50# Hawthorn Bond Clay 35 mesh
50# Cedar Heights Goldart
50# OM4 Ball Clay
30-35# Virginia Kyanite 48 mesh
I like this body because the Kyanite withstands the thermal shock of raku
really well. I have very little breakage of the pots during firing with
this body compared to commercial raku bodies. It works well for
handbuilding too. It's also easy to throw into the Soldner mixer since the
first three ingredients use the full bag of material. The only ingredient
I need to weigh out is the kyanite (It comes in 100# bags). Other potters
have told me that the kyanite is tough on the hands when throwing, but I
haven't had that problem. I have found this body to be very indestructible
during firing and reduction. I also fire it to cone 8 in oxidation and
reduction and it works well there too. Tiles that I have press molded with
this body work well in raku, but tend to warp in the high fire. I may try
adding grog to open the body up a bit for the high fire tile work.
John Post
johnpost@c3net.net
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