Welcome to Ceramics Tips

Memory

Unlike ceramics, if a porcelain piece is distorted when being removed from a mold and reshaped, it will go back to the distorted shape during the firing process.

DIY Greenware mender

Greenware mender: You can make your own mender. Lana Wilson, author of Ceramics: Shape and Surface, Handouts for Potters, uses this recipe called Magic Potion which she says is a super duper greenware fixer!!! The recipe is: I gallon water, 3 tablespoons liquid sodium silicate, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of soda ash. *Liquid sodium silicate is also called egg keep and is sometimes available at drugstores.

Attaching wet parts

Attaching wet parts: The first thing you learn in ceramics is "score and slip." To attach 2 wet pieces of clay, you score both sides with a needle tool or fork, apply water or slip, and mush them together. However, some potters, even famous ones, have abandoned the traditional score and slip method, saying they found direct contact to be more reliable. When using the direct contact method, it helps to have a binder. Vinegar works great for this, almost like a glue.

High fire or low fire?

At some point you will decide to use low fire or high fire techniques, or like me, to combine them. Often it will depend on where you got started and what they used. Most popular ceramics studios low fire, and most colleges high fire. Low fire is usually cone 06-04 whereas High Fire (or some call Mid to High Fire) is cone 5-10. The difference between them is the temperature at which the clay matures “fuses” and glazes “melt”. Read my entire articleLow Fire or High Fire Clay

Thickness

Porcelain pieces are cast approximately one-third thinner than hobby ceramic pieces

Making Paperclay

It is not just a matter of adding paper pulp to clay. There are some questions to be considered: what type of paper is best? (in my experience newspaper is actually quite good); how much should be added? (this question must be answered through experimentation, but up to 50 % is feasible). You can easily make paperclay yourself by mixing paper pulp with clay slip and then drying it out or by wedging in the pulp with the clay body. One can also purchase ready-made paperclay in some craft shops. There is even a product on the market called Creative Paperclay which doesn´t need to be fired, but this is perhaps really moving too much away from the traditions of ceramic art. Still it is a new and different technique that could be checked out. Ceramics Today

Attaching dry parts

Attaching dry parts. In general, you cannot attach two pieces of clay which have dried past the leather hard stage. However, there are some exceptions.
You can sometimes use a commercial mender such as Magic mender or APTII mender to attach pieces of greenware or even bisque.

How to make Paperclay

Paperclay is a wonderful material for making ceramic sculptures. It has improved qualities over normal clay. When fired the paper burns away, leaving a lightweight but strong ceramic structure behind. Here´s How: Soak about 200 gms newspaper per kilo clay. Make some clay slip from your favorite earthenware or mid-fire clay. Mix the two with a ratio of about 1:4 parts paper pulp and clay slip with a drill mixer attachment. Pour the slop mixture onto a plaster bat or table for drying. When ready, wedge. Store in thick plastic bags. Tips: Shredded paper is ideal for making paperclay. Paperclay is suitable for handbuilding, not throwing. Mold in stored paperclay will improve its workability.
Ceramics
Today

Mould

Mold that appears in moist clay is not only harmless, it´s beneficial. Mold will improve the clay´s plasticity, making it easier to work with. Some people even introduce organic matter such as old rotting leaves into their clay to promote the growth of mold.
Ceramics
Today

vitreousity

During the firing process, porcelain becomes vitreous or water tight so there is no need to glaze the inside of pieces. Although glaze should always be used on utilitarian ware.

Hardpaste porcelain

Hardpaste porcelain is characterized by its hardness, ringing sound when struck translucence, and shining finish, like that of a cowrie shell (Italian porcellana). It is made of kaolin and petuntse (fusible feldspar consisting chiefly of silicates reduced to a fine white powder); it is high-fired at 1,400ºC/2,552ºF.

Favourite ways to dry out clay

Favourite ways to let the clay dry out.
Some people spread it on plaster beds. Others in a large cardboard box lined with a garbage bag. My favourite is to put it into a pillow case or the sewn up legs of an old pair of jeans, hang from a tree, and let the water drip out.
The best advice of all is to do this often, before you have accumulated so much clay you can´t bear the thought of recycling it all! And lastly, to keep clay moist longer in the first place, many potters store their bagged clay in an old refrigerator with the holes plugged. The tight seals help keep the clay from drying out.

Cleaning seams

Because porcelain shrinks, it is necessary to do a good job of cleaning the seams off since a ridge will form when fired.

Hand Mixing from Scratch

Hand Mixing from Scratch
Hand mixing from scratch follows the reclaiming process fairly closely but you start with already dry powdered constituent materials. The trick is getting the dry powder materials blended without raising a lot of dust. I have seen dry clay blended outside in a kiln yard using hoes, rakes and other farm implements. This is messy and of course a respiratory hazard. (Anyone recognize a theme here?) Dry materials can be sealed in a large bag and massaged about in an effort to blend the materials, but you will be limited by how much clay you're physically capable of wrestling with! If you have a ball mill, the dry materials can be loaded into a large container, sealed and placed on the mill to turn...

Secondary Clays

Secondary clays have been moved about by the forces of weather, rivers and glaciers over millions of years. In the process, the simple composition of the primary clay becomes more complex, as other ground up materials, such as iron, ash or quartz are mixed in.

Slip

A gallon of porcelain slip will produce one-third more pieces than a gallon of ceramic slip.

Recycling tips

Tips:
1. The soft clay will actually harden on the underside faster than the top, because the plaster is soaking up the moisture.
2. Keep an eye on what sorts of clay are going into the mix, as this will influence the firing temperature.
3. This is also a good time to make paperclay!

Stoneware

Stoneware
Stoneware clays are fired up to 2370o F (1300o C), where they become quite hard and vitreous. Colors range from off white to gray and dark brown. There are also various degrees of roughness or fineness, depending on the formulation. This the hardest, most durable type of clay.