October 11, 2002, Newsletter Issue #111: Decorating with slips

Tip of the Week

Mixing slips for decorating
Mixing: Note that recipes typically add up to 100g. If you multiply all the ingredients in the above recipes by 10, you will get 1000 grams, which will fill about 1/2 of a 5 gallon bucket. You can then divide this up into five 1 gallon buckets and mix different stains in each. As a starting point, use about 15% of the total grams of stain. (e.g. 1000 grams / 5 = 200 grams per color, 15% of 200g is 30g, so use 30g of each stain)
The classic method is to pre-mix the dry ingredients, then add them to water. But many experienced potters do not premix their dry ingredients. They simply drop them into the water and mix with a jiffy mixer or paint mixer attached to a power drill. Use about half the volume of the dry ingredients for the amount of water. Mix the ingredients into the water with your hand or a stick before using the drill, to avoid stirring up dust. Depending on how well your mixer does, if the slip is lumpy you will want to push it through a sieve.
The completed slip should be the thickness of cream for greenware, or slightly thinner on bisque. Apply slip with a brush, a slip-trailing bottle, or by dipping. As you work, your piece will dry out, so spritz with water periodically, and wrap tightly between sessions. You can build up multiple layers of slip to make very intricate designs.

Recipe: High fired slip 70795
Here is a recipe for high fire clay
#6 Tile Clay (Georgia kaolin) 25g
EPK (Kaolin) 25g
Ball Clay 25g
Frit 3124 15g
Nepheline Syenite 10g

Recipe: Low fire slip
Here is a recipe that is often used because it fits a wide variety of low fire clay bodies. Thinned, it works well on bisque also.
Kentucky Ball Clay (Old Mine #4) 40g
EPK (Kaolin, sometimes called China Clay) 20g
Nepheline Syenite (flux) 10g
Talc 15g
Silica Sand (sometimes called Flint) 15g

Disclaimer: It is the responsibility of anybody using these slip recipes to be informed of slip dangers and to ensure the proper safety precautions are met when mixing and using slips. In general slip components marked ´toxic!´ should not be used for tableware. Other, not marked ingredients may be harmful to health on skin contact or if ingested. Frits may contain Lead Bisilicate. General safety precautions for ceramic materials apply. Contact a supplier, lecturer or professional if in doubt. Neither Lifetips nor its Ceramic Guru, Jan will bear any responsibility for incorrectly used slips and/or ingredients, nor for any damages due to unexpected slip results. All slips should be tested before use.

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