Michael Wendt on sun 14 mar 04
If any of you want to know the composition of the clay body you use, here's
how to get very close:
Dry some chunks.
Crush them a bit and weigh out 1000 g.
Slake the dried clay in excess water.
Screen through successively finer screens starting at 60
mesh, then 100, then 200 and finally 325. Dry out what passed the 325 and
powder it too.
Save and dry the materials retained on each screen plus the material that
went through all the screens.
Weigh and record the results.
This gives you the general breakdown of the body by particle size.
Send me 2 grams of each fraction for XRF analysis.
Examine the samples under a microscope to see what they look like and what
they might appear to be.
Once you have the chemistry of each fraction, try to find source clays that
match the general chemistry and particle breakdown.
While not an exact way, you should be able to match most of the character of
a body this way by deconstructing it.
Regards,
Michael Wendt
Wendt Pottery
2729 Clearwater Ave
Lewiston, ID 83501
wendtpot@lewiston.com
www.wendtpottery.com
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