The Sherman's on wed 30 apr 03
Don't know who sells it anymore but I love Lizella terracotta clay, fron
Georgia. I used to get it through Clay Factory in Tampa, Fla. (no longer in
business). Learned to throw with it. Lots of grog so it can be tough on
the hands but holds up well when fired to 06-04. A web search might dig up
a supplier. Aslo there was a Clayart discussion in the past year or so
about low fire bodies so an archive search may turn something up.
Marcey Sherman
Zephyr Pottery
Huntington Station
Long Island, NY
Taylor Hendrix asked:
I am also thinking about terracotta bodies (I think that is the best for
large outdoor planters) for throwing and would love to hear what the
experts have to say on what to look for when finding/formulating such a
body. I don't think Armadillo's low fire is going to do it for me.
Sarah Chenoweth on wed 30 apr 03
Lizella comes from Kickwheel in Atlanta...don't know the phonenumber, but try
kickwheel.com and see what happens.
sarah
formerly of atl; also fond of lizella
Sarah Chenoweth on wed 30 apr 03
p.s. on lizella
I used to take classes at Callanwolde in Atlanta. A classmate of mine
successfully, and painstakingly, mixed lizella with porcelain and fired in
our cone 10 reduction....his pieces came out BEAUTIFUL....orange and white
layers. not sure how fragile they were in the long run.
sarah
David Hendley on wed 30 apr 03
Taylor, if you want to save a few bucks, and I know you have been wanting
to mix your own clay, simply buy "Ranger Shale" clay, dry, in 50 pound bags
from Trinity Ceramic Supply.
The recipe for Terracotta clay is:
100% Ranger Shale
Add grog if you want it.
Terracotta claybodies are very simple, compared to stoneware bodies.
100% Redart clay also makes a good earthenware clay.
David Hendley
Maydelle, Texas
david@farmpots.com
http://www.farmpots.com
----- Original Message ----- :
>
> I am also thinking about terracotta bodies (I think that is the best for
> large outdoor planters) for throwing and would love to hear what the
> experts have to say on what to look for when finding/formulating such a
> body. I don't think Armadillo's low fire is going to do it for me.
>
Vince Pitelka on wed 30 apr 03
Just a fine point - Lizella is a beautiful clay, and it is a red stoneware,
not a terracotta. If you low-fire it, you would get something that looks
and feels very much like a terracotta, but it can be high-fired, whereas a
true terracotta usually contains a large fraction of red-burning earthenware
clays and cannot be highfired without bloating and slumping.
Best wishes -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Home - vpitelka@dtccom.net
615/597-5376
Office - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 x111, FAX 615/597-6803
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
Tony Hansen on thu 1 may 03
> Clayarts discussions about terracotta and Val Cushing led me back to an
> article posted on Digitalfire, written by Val Cushing, regarding midrange
> stoneware, cone 6. He gives a recipe to mix cone 6 stoneware.
> 50% Any terracotta and 50% any stoneware clay.
There is a link to this at the bottom of
http://digitalfire.ab.ca/cermat/education/114.php
> This has my interest as we have a very good local red clay that fires to an
> orange that I think is attractive. I will begin by making some slops with
> my stoneware clay from the bag (rated to cone 10) and local clay. I will
> try 50/50, than different proportions of lesser terracotta. Maybe I will get
> the clay and color I want, from my backyard. That would be nice. Sometimes
> the best is the simplest.
Clays are so different, there is no way to be sure
that that a 50:50 mix is appropriate without a test.
I would try the clay at 100% and see how it works.
If it is red then mixing it with anything lighter will
lose color. If it is too plastic, add something non-plastic
like feldspar. The spar won\'t melt but it will cut plasticity
much better than a stoneware clay will. Actually talc
is even better, it will increase thermal expansion to
help it fit commercial glazes, impart a nicer feel and
really improve drying properties. If your clay is not plastic
enough then add some ball clay, maybe you will only need 10%.
Redart is a good example, the nicest color terracotta body I have
used is 100% redart. But alas it is low plastic enough, it
needs about 20% ball clay. Banta red is the opposite, it
is high plastic and needs to be cut.
If you can measure drying shrinkage, try to aim for a shrinkage
of less than 7% as a rough guide.
========
Tony Hansen
Alisa Clausen on thu 1 may 03
Clayarts discussions about terracotta and Val Cushing led me back to an
article posted on Digitalfire, written by Val Cushing, regarding midrange
stoneware, cone 6. He gives a recipe to mix cone 6 stoneware.
50% Any terracotta and 50% any stoneware clay.
This has my interest as we have a very good local red clay that fires to an
orange that I think is attractive. I will begin by making some slops with
my stoneware clay from the bag (rated to cone 10) and local clay. I will
try 50/50, than different proportions of lesser terracotta. Maybe I will get
the clay and color I want, from my backyard. That would be nice. Sometimes
the best is the simplest. I hope this will be true for my new clay trials.
Then we can see how the glazes look. So far, I need to be 25 again have
these last 20 years again, to find what I am looking for. It is just that
the "what" is not a constant.
The article, among a bounty of many nights reading (Claus is patient man) is
on Tony Hansen's site
http://digitalfire.com/ and then to cone 6 and then bottom of page
http://www.studiopotter.org/articles/art0009.htm
Brenda Beeley on thu 1 may 03
I used Lizella clay this winter when I was in Florida. I loved it. I
bought it at Montoya Stone Sculpture supplies in West Palm Beach. I used
it for coil built sculptures. They said it fires up to cone 6!!! I've
only bisque fired it so far.
Brenda
Suquamish, WA
>Don't know who sells it anymore but I love Lizella terracotta clay, fron
>Georgia. I used to get it through Clay Factory in Tampa, Fla. (no longer in
>business). Learned to throw with it. Lots of grog so it can be tough on
>the hands but holds up well when fired to 06-04. A web search might dig up
>a supplier. Aslo there was a Clayart discussion in the past year or so
>about low fire bodies so an archive search may turn something up.
>
Lesley Beveridge on tue 30 dec 03
Hi
I am endeavouring to start a business and I am going to be producing
impressions of babies and childrens hands and feet. I have experimented in
placing a hand in rolled out terracotta clay and unfortunately I am not
getting the imprints deep enough. The clay seems too hard and obviously I
can only press a baby's hand so hard. I have tried a little water with the
clay but this does not work either. Is there any particular kind of clay I
should be using? It must be air drying clay.
Many thanks
Lesley Beveridge
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Snail Scott on wed 31 dec 03
At 02:08 PM 12/30/03 +0000, you wrote:
>I have experimented in
>placing a hand in rolled out terracotta clay and unfortunately I am not
>getting the imprints deep enough. The clay seems too hard and obviously I
>can only press a baby's hand so hard...
I have never found a means to make this work.
Even with very soft clay the action of pressing
distorts the soft flesh of children's hands. I
now use dental alginate to make the initial
impression, and cast plaster into it to form a
positive. You could use the plaster to make a
subsequent clay impression, but I find that
most parents love the positive - so much more
unusual, in their experience. The cost of the
alginate, and the two-phase process, make it
more labor-and money-intensive, but I can also
charge more for the end product.
Since I don't do these frequently, it makes more
sense for me, and since it more closely resembles
my regular work (figural sculpture), it's more
likely to lead to other opportunities. (These
aspects will not apply to everyone, of course.)
And, it's not something that parents look at
and say, "Well, heck, I could do that myself."
When we work with clay as out primary material,
it leads to a tendency to try to do everything
with it, even if another material is preferable.
Perhaps if you are committed to the oven-bake
clay, you could make the initial impression in
fast-setting plaster (though this can be tricky)
then use that as a press-mold for the clay.
-Snail
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