Clay results test 2

Clay 1 test 2 bisque






Eck 2 30
Clay ceram 40
Neph syen 10
Talc 8
Flint 12

No warping but clay got dry when working with it

Clay 3 test 2




Keanes terr 18
Fire clay 14
Eck 2
Fx 18
Neph syen 18
Silica 200 14

Increase silica to reduce shrinkage

Status of affairs

ok I need to recap on a few things.

At the moment I have some red terracotta test bowls in a bisque firing. I will get them out tomorrow. These have a white engobe on them and I will then need to test some clear glazes on them to figure out what glaze to use or whether the engobe does what I want it to do - which is stay white and one the bowl.

There are a few clear glaze options with this one

1. Cesco mid fired clear - have tested this before and is ok but not really excited
2. Chrysanthos mid fire clear - haven't tested but its at TAFE
3. My own - C1 - this hasn't come up great with the terracotta ts not overly transparant (can be seen in an earlier blog)

New texture for origami bowl

Brown terracotta bowl test and some little test ribbons in front to test some clear glazes etc...

Another testure for my origami bowls

Also in the bisque firing is some clay shrinkage test which will need to be documented.

There are some red terracotta mugs that will need to be glazed with a clear glaze or something!!

At TAFE is a white clay test that Chris gave me that will need to be bisqued

More work is needed on my non functional project - I have discovered two glazes I will use on the objects but it would be good to have a few more glazes Slate Dry Blue and Tomatoe red - test bowl posted earlier

Need to do a test with Slate Dry Blue and Tomato Red brushed on 5B and fired to cone 6 as the last bowl test I did was dipped. I probably won't be able to dip the pieces I am working on by maybe able to spray?? Talk to Chris

Need to make and bisque some terracotta tests and some BRT

BRT project is a plate with a crawling white glaze

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Crawl/Crackle glaze ideas

Texture/Crawl Glaze c 6 ox or red.
Nepheline Syenite 70%
Magnesium Carbonate 25%
Ball Clay 5%

adding colorants or stains will give this different colour

I didn't want to use a whole heap of Nepheline Syenite as it is expensive...

One technique to make this happen is to add 15-20% magnesium carbonate (testing required to determine amount) to a low fire transparent glaze.

I'll be trying this out in my next glaze firing!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Janettes mug

Terracotta



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Test firing results

This is Keanes red and brown clays with my c1 and cescos mid fired clear






I have to get the names of these ones from TAFE again


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Notes on MQF

I didn't have much luck with this clay but I did fire it to cone 6 not 5 as recommended. The problem started way before firing through. It was a stiff clay to throw with. Although when I added stain it was softer but then a little to soft...

I rolled a slab one side white the other MQF with stain and when I made a bowl they just cracked when drying











The pink never got past drying.

The blue had heaps of cracks but I bisqued it for testing anyway. It fell apart in the glaze firing.










I also threw some with some stain











These stayed together although I didn't enjoy the throwing process they fired up well at cone 6 with my c1 test glaze and cesco mid fired











Also Finally - never ever add stain to clay unless you actually like the clay - now I have two 1kg batches of stained clay - stain isn't cheap!! and I don't like the clay. I am looking into making something small - ie some jewellery with it... such a disappointment!!

Test bowl

I really like this test bowl for my non fnctional project.

It is 5B with two TAFE stoneware glazes fired to cone 6