Shrinkage
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Shrinkage
By far the biggest technical challenge clay will present us with is shrinkage. Clay shrinks as it dries, and it shrinks again when it is fired. Most stoneware clays shrink by 10 to 15 percent from the wet to the fired state. The exposed edges of a pot will dry more quickly than the bottom, and thin parts will dry and shrink faster than thicker parts. If one part of a piece dries and shrinks before the rest, this sets up stresses in the piece that will often crack it either during drying or firing. Try and keep the thickness of your pieces uniform, and dry them gradually and evenly by covering them with plastic and periodically turning them over to dry the bottoms.
| Guru Spotlight |
| Heidi Splete |
