Toni Hall on thu 8 may 97
I have two questions-
I have been reading that some people use a "cone 5/6 porcelain" clay
body. I always thought that porcelain had to be a cone 10 or better. I
must be wrong. Where could one find such a porcelain clay body, (I live in
New Mexico), and is it as difficult to work with as porcelain has been
reported to be?
Second question - I have read that there is a table top, clap-on style
extruder. Does anyone out there have any information on such an item, and
how workable is it? TIA
Toni in New Mexico
Sandra Dwiggins on fri 9 may 97
I use a cone 5/6 porcelain. I buy it from Standard Ceramics in Pittsburgh.
I'm sure there are companies who formulate these lower fire porcelain
type bodies closer to your georgraphical area. The body I use is not
quite as difficult to use as a pure grolleg body, for example, but it is more
testy than a stoneware and shrinkage and drying problems are probably
the same as a higher temp body, i.e. lots of shrinkage and cracking if not
dried slowly and thrown evenly. I add molochite to the body to give it
some tooth and lessen the shrinkage a bit. This lower fire body does
not really have the feel or "graininess"(my adjective) associated with
higher temp porcelain when fired, but it is a very smooth white body so it
does provide a great base for translucent glazes.
Sandy
Sherry mcDonald Stewart on fri 9 may 97
I would think you could get a ^6 porcelain anywhere, but if not I know
you can get it from either Trinity in Dallas, and also in Ft. Worth, but
i don't remember the name there. you could also make your own, but that
would be experimental! I made my first porcelains in a trash can! They
were real rubbery, and not easy to work with! What I bought from John
Logan in Ft. Worth was nice, and more difficult than stoneware if you
are accustomed to stoneware, but I went to porcelain almost right away
as I was learning to throw. My work is generally smallish anyway, so
porcelain was not a problem, and I love the sensuousness if it.Sher
Larry Tague on fri 9 may 97
Highwater Clay Company out of Asheville, North Carolina makes a cone 5-6
porcelain, called P-5. If you want more information please feel free to call
Carol @"The HedgeShopper" 1-800-211-7713
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From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List on behalf of Toni Hall
Sent: Thursday, May 08, 1997 8:49 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list CLAYART
Subject: cone 5/6 porcelain
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
I have two questions-
I have been reading that some people use a "cone 5/6 porcelain" clay
body. I always thought that porcelain had to be a cone 10 or better. I
must be wrong. Where could one find such a porcelain clay body, (I live in
New Mexico), and is it as difficult to work with as porcelain has been
reported to be?
Second question - I have read that there is a table top, clap-on style
extruder. Does anyone out there have any information on such an item, and
how workable is it? TIA
Toni in New Mexico
Darrol F. Shillingburg on fri 9 may 97
Hi Toni,
> I have been reading that some people use a "cone 5/6 porcelain" clay
>body. I always thought that porcelain had to be a cone 10 or better. I
>must be wrong. Where could one find such a porcelain clay body, (I live in
>New Mexico), and is it as difficult to work with as porcelain has been
>reported to be?
Ceramic King (Albuquerque) sells a cone 6 porcelain called Pecos Porcelain. I
have not used it.
I have a hoard of Porcelain and Stonewares cone 5 porcelain that I use for small
handbuilt pieces, marbelized clay blends and slip inlays.
Martin Butt is on this list, but I don't know if he is still mixing that
porcelain. I have found it very workable, takes color well and is easily
burnished. I have fired it between 012ox and 6r, no problems.
Darrol in Elephant Butte, NM
Mitchell Cutler on fri 9 may 97
Toni Hall wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> I have two questions-
> I have been reading that some people use a "cone 5/6 porcelain" clay
> body. I always thought that porcelain had to be a cone 10 or better. I
> must be wrong. Where could one find such a porcelain clay body, (I live in
> New Mexico), and is it as difficult to work with as porcelain has been
> reported to be?
> Second question - I have read that there is a table top, clap-on style
> extruder. Does anyone out there have any information on such an item, and
> how workable is it? TIA
> Toni in New Mexico
Hi,
I've been using "B-Mix" from Laguna Clay Co. I think of it as a cone 5
"porcelain". It is a smooth, white body, throws well and I really like
it for small pots. The largest pot I've made with it was a bowl about 8
inches high and 8 inches wide. It must dry slowly or it will crack
and/or warp. Let me know if you need more infor.
June Rosenberry
downs on fri 9 may 97
Toni,
Ceramic King in Albuquerque carries a ^6 Porcelain. Its a beautiful
clay. It was difficult for me to work with, but I think thats
because its just so different from the stoneware I was use to. If
you work with it awhile, I think you will develope the "touch".
Denise Downs
Olivia T Cavy on sat 10 may 97
Toni-
This is going to be a non technical answer for you. I use cone 6
porcelain. I buy this commercially from Standard Ceramics in Pittsburgh,
PA but I've also used ^6 porcelain from other suppliers in 25 lb "wet"
blocks- where you wire off a piece and use the commercially made pugged clay.
will be translucent when made thin and fired. The other is non-grolleg. The non-
quite as white as grolleg) opaque when fired.
I'm sure someone will give you a technical definition of what makes
porcelain, but from a user point of view, it has only very fine grog, so
your finished surfaces can be quite smooth, not gritty. If you are
incising or texturing your surfaces, you can get very even incisions or
cuts.
Also, there is no iron or manganese (or very minimal) in the clay body,
so your glazes are being fired on a WHITE surface. This may be good or
bad, depending on the effect you are looking for.
As far as throwing is concerned...I learned to throw using porcelain, and
didn't really understand what people meant when they said that throwing
porcelain is "like throwing cream cheese". After I tried throwing
stoneware and found that it was much easier to build bigger pots, I
understood. Because the texture of porcelain is quite smooth, with only
fine particles of grog, you need to throw quite dry and quite quickly
(or you quicklyl learn to use a propose torch to dry your pot on the wheel so yo
pots with porcelain. It is less forgiving of throwing errors-like when
you are finishing the rim and you accidently use more pressure with one
hand than with the other hand and knock the rim out of round.
Porcelain also seems to have a strong memory (as weird as that sounds).
If it has been in one position, it really wants to return to that
position. I'm thinking of my example above when you unintentionally
knock the rim out of round. That rim has a tendency to return to that
out of round position as it dries. Don't ask me why.
Having said all that, I love the feel of throwing porcelain, and I love
the look of the finished product. The only way you'll know if it works
for you is to try it. BTW the recent thread on throwing dry really does
apply here. You cannot soak your clay as you open it and pull it when
you work in porcelain. It will just slump.
Bonnie Hellman in Pittsburgh, PA
Work e-mail: oliviatcavy@juno.com
Home e-mail: mou10man@sgi.net
Peter and Sam Tomich on sat 10 may 97
When I was at the Walter Ostrum workshop, he said that there is no such
thing as porcelain that fires below ^9. He said that it is an
advertising gimmick (my own words, not his). He thought maybe they were
bone china at those temperatures. What exactly are the definitions of
porcelain and bone china? What is the ware that fires translucent at
^6ish temps? Please help to clear this up.
Sam in Hawaii
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