Lisa Skeen on tue 30 sep 03
Naomi,
If you're looking to have this stuff mixed, call Axner. They mixed Vince's claybody for the workshop this past May, and it's great. :)
L
L. P. Skeen http://www.living-tree.net
Living Tree Pottery
Summerfield, NC
Naomi Rieder on tue 30 sep 03
Vince,
In your recipe for "God's Bod", it says "fireclay". Does it matter which
fireclay? Clay Art in Tacoma uses IMCO 400, but I'm on the East coast and
there are no distributors for this; shipping would be outrageous. What do
you suggest?
MTIA,
Naomi Rieder
In the muddy Catski
Vince Pitelka on tue 30 sep 03
> In your recipe for "God's Bod", it says "fireclay". Does it matter which
> fireclay? Clay Art in Tacoma uses IMCO 400, but I'm on the East coast and
> there are no distributors for this; shipping would be outrageous. What do
> you suggest?
Naomi -
I'm not particularly comfortable with the appellation "god's bod." At the
Craft Center, we call this claybody our raku clay. Whem Michael McDowell
had the clay mixed by Clay Art Center for one of my Ancient Clay workshops
(it is also a great bonfiring body), as a casual aside I told Mike that it
was god's own claybody, because it performs so well in so many applications.
I guess Mike repeated that to the folks at the Clay Art Center, and one
thing lead to another.
The claybody referred to here is equal parts Goldart, fireclay, ball clay,
and extra fine grog. As mentioned, it is an excellent body for raku and
bonfiring, and we have used it in highfiring for sculpture and large
vessels. With no added flux, you might think that cristobalite would be a
problem, but I have never seen an physical evidence of that. We have fired
this claybody up to cone 14 in our "hoggama" wood kiln, in large vessels and
sculptural forms, and it has performed very well.
But back to your question - I have used Celdar Heights fireclay, AP Green
fireclay, and Hawthorn Bond. Any good plastic fireclay should work fine.
But more important, make sure that the grog is extra fine - we use 50-mesh.
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/
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