karen lovenguth nunez on sat 23 aug 03
Hi Annapoorna,
I am also looking for a good sculptural earthenware =
clay. Perhaps if we put our heads together we will work out a good =
claybody. I have been working with a great sculptural white paper clay =
body but I fear it is more for high temperature than low temp. I need a =
bit of guidance from anyone who can point me in the right direction as =
to testing.
My current claybody is as follows;
50 % ball clay om4
30% grog
10% talc
10 % feldspar
and toilet paper about 8 rolls of the well packed brands high in cotton =
content to each batch of 50 kilos of dry mix. the %??????
I did my homework and got some results as to the shrinkage and porosity =
and realize that this claybody DOES need some changes.
Dry shrinkage 6%
Fired shrinkage .9 (not even 1 %)??????? not good?
Absorption 15.6 % =20
The plasticity and workability of this body is excellent, a pleasure to =
work with. The problem is that it needs as I understand more density and =
hardness at the low temps that I want to fire to ( because I use terra =
sigs on BIG pieces)
I need a flux? A friend told me more feldspar, but he fires and thinks =
in high temp.
Rhodes says iron oxide (which will change the white body (I am willing =
to give that up)
What percentages of additions of feo2 should I try?
Rhodes also mentions talc. Won=B4t that affect the plasticity? More or =
less how much of a % of talc can I add? and what should I take away?=20
Perhaps I should add some red clay? Is that better than the pure iron =
oxide?
A clay frit I think isn=B4t a good idea for me because as I understand =
it will narrow my bodies firing range. I like sometimes to take my terra =
sig pieces to cone 04 with certain glazes I have (of course losing the =
sheen)=20
I would appreciate any kind of down to earth advice. How should I look =
at this problem and in which testing direction should I be headed. I =
know this is all leg work finally.=20
Thanks....... Karen Lovenguth P.S. Just got reconnected after a bit =
of a breather from the list. Saludos to you all!
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