White Slip

[Heidi]

I am a newby and wondered if anybody can tell me how to make white slip, also I have "pitfired" some small pots yesterday and would like to know what to use to clean the pots with

[Marcia Selsor]

Slips can serve many purposes , so you need to be more specific...like going on wet or dry greenware or bisque, low, mid-range or high fire?

 

To clean pitfired work, if it was previously bisques, wash in water with a soft cloth. If it was not previously bisques, it may react to the water if the temperature was not hot enough in places. Clean with a dry soft cloth.

 

Marcia

[clay lover]

I take a bag of white clay with no grogg, I use Tucker's MCS a cone 6-8 porcelain ,and cube it up into a 5 gallon bucket of water untill it is covered with water. Cover and let it sit for 4-5 days. When it feels like the cubes are soft and creamy, use a big blender stick that goes on an electric drill, like a pro paint stirrer.

 

Be really sure you keep the blender head BELOW the level of the clay-water and mixr untill the cubes disappear. Mixture will be like thick sour cream. It needs to be the consistancy that you can blend it well, top to bottom, and have no cubes left. Add water if needed. You need to be able to get it through a sieve.

Run the glop through at least a 40 mesh sieve, I go to 60 for basic slip and finer if needed to be really creamy.

This will give you a generous amount of white slip if you need it thinner, add more water and blend. If it is too thin, let it sit for a dat and water will come to the top, spoon it off, leave a depression in the middle, water will collect there and can be removed till it suits you.

This can be done on a smaller scale, use a blender stick in a deep bowl, but since it keeps forever and clean up is a chore, I do alot at a time.

You must keep it well covered, or you will get crunchy edges and surface that will cause application problems. Have fun, it's a mess, but I love slip.

 

Are you considering colors? that is also way fun.

[Marcia Selsor]

Claylover,

How are you using this slip? Temperatures? One greenware? Sounds like a good simple system for a good slip...what are you applying it to? Stoneware? Since Heidi also did a pitfering, I am assuming she has lowlier clay. I don't know is she has mid-range or high fire clay. So that would need to e determined for her specific need. I do like your system for slip. I use my porcelain scraps and soak them to a paste.

Marcia

[Natas Setiabudhi]

Ya i agree with marcia. Slip has character itself which little bit different with glazes, especially in application technique and the composition. Usually slip is applied to rather wet clay, while in leather hard or bisque state can also. For making white slip, it depends on a clay which you are used. Like a glaze, slip has a wide temperature, low, middle, or high fire. For simple recipe, you just need kaolin and ball clay for making white slip. For better quality, it must be added a flux such as feldspar or whiting and quartz (middle and high fire). For low fire, you can add leadless frit.

[Heidi]

I take a bag of white clay with no grogg, I use Tucker's MCS a cone 6-8 porcelain ,and cube it up into a 5 gallon bucket of water untill it is covered with water. Cover and let it sit for 4-5 days. When it feels like the cubes are soft and creamy, use a big blender stick that goes on an electric drill, like a pro paint stirrer.

 

Be really sure you keep the blender head BELOW the level of the clay-water and mixr untill the cubes disappear. Mixture will be like thick sour cream. It needs to be the consistancy that you can blend it well, top to bottom, and have no cubes left. Add water if needed. You need to be able to get it through a sieve.

Run the glop through at least a 40 mesh sieve, I go to 60 for basic slip and finer if needed to be really creamy.

This will give you a generous amount of white slip if you need it thinner, add more water and blend. If it is too thin, let it sit for a dat and water will come to the top, spoon it off, leave a depression in the middle, water will collect there and can be removed till it suits you.

This can be done on a smaller scale, use a blender stick in a deep bowl, but since it keeps forever and clean up is a chore, I do alot at a time.

You must keep it well covered, or you will get crunchy edges and surface that will cause application problems. Have fun, it's a mess, but I love slip.

 

Are you considering colors? that is also way fun.

 

[Heidi]

I take a bag of white clay with no grogg, I use Tucker's MCS a cone 6-8 porcelain ,and cube it up into a 5 gallon bucket of water untill it is covered with water. Cover and let it sit for 4-5 days. When it feels like the cubes are soft and creamy, use a big blender stick that goes on an electric drill, like a pro paint stirrer.

 

Be really sure you keep the blender head BELOW the level of the clay-water and mixr untill the cubes disappear. Mixture will be like thick sour cream. It needs to be the consistancy that you can blend it well, top to bottom, and have no cubes left. Add water if needed. You need to be able to get it through a sieve.

Run the glop through at least a 40 mesh sieve, I go to 60 for basic slip and finer if needed to be really creamy.

This will give you a generous amount of white slip if you need it thinner, add more water and blend. If it is too thin, let it sit for a dat and water will come to the top, spoon it off, leave a depression in the middle, water will collect there and can be removed till it suits you.

This can be done on a smaller scale, use a blender stick in a deep bowl, but since it keeps forever and clean up is a chore, I do alot at a time.

You must keep it well covered, or you will get crunchy edges and surface that will cause application problems. Have fun, it's a mess, but I love slip.

 

Are you considering colors? that is also way fun.

 

This sounds perfect (nice and simple) - thank you

 

By the way I want to use the slip on leatherhard stoneware for high fire and not for the pitfired pots.

[Heidi]

I take a bag of white clay with no grogg, I use Tucker's MCS a cone 6-8 porcelain ,and cube it up into a 5 gallon bucket of water untill it is covered with water. Cover and let it sit for 4-5 days. When it feels like the cubes are soft and creamy, use a big blender stick that goes on an electric drill, like a pro paint stirrer.

 

Be really sure you keep the blender head BELOW the level of the clay-water and mixr untill the cubes disappear. Mixture will be like thick sour cream. It needs to be the consistancy that you can blend it well, top to bottom, and have no cubes left. Add water if needed. You need to be able to get it through a sieve.

Run the glop through at least a 40 mesh sieve, I go to 60 for basic slip and finer if needed to be really creamy.

This will give you a generous amount of white slip if you need it thinner, add more water and blend. If it is too thin, let it sit for a dat and water will come to the top, spoon it off, leave a depression in the middle, water will collect there and can be removed till it suits you.

This can be done on a smaller scale, use a blender stick in a deep bowl, but since it keeps forever and clean up is a chore, I do alot at a time.

You must keep it well covered, or you will get crunchy edges and surface that will cause application problems. Have fun, it's a mess, but I love slip.

 

Are you considering colors? that is also way fun.

 

This sounds perfect (nice and simple) - thank you

 

By the way I want to use the slip on leatherhard stoneware for high fire and not for the pitfired pots.

 

Yes, would love to make coloured slip in future

[Tyler G]

look into getting some mason stains to color the slip, you can also use colorants like red iron oxide, cobalt, etc. instead, but generally 5-10% mason stain added to the white slip gives pretty reliable color and there are tons of colors to choose from. Then clear glaze if u want gloss finish

[clay lover]

Claylover,

How are you using this slip? Temperatures? One greenware? Sounds like a good simple system for a good slip...what are you applying it to? Stoneware? Since Heidi also did a pitfering, I am assuming she has lowlier clay. I don't know is she has mid-range or high fire clay. So that would need to e determined for her specific need. I do like your system for slip. I use my porcelain scraps and soak them to a paste.

Marcia

 

 

 

Hi Marcia,

I use this for scrafitto and slip resist and trailing on ^6 leather hard clay. The clay is called Half And Half which is half porcelain, half white stoneware, I THINK, from HIghwater clay in Ashevile, NC. It is rated cone 6-10 and I use it on their cone 5-7 clays with no problems so far. I would think you could do this with any clay you used , depending on what you wanted to do with it.

The simple way of coloring ship is to use 1tsp. mason stain to 1 qt liquid slip. Adjust to suit afte a test firing. To get some sort of consistent color, I use the 'does the surface level out after stiring, method. Sort of works.

Doing this with a bag of clay gives me several qys of white that I divide up and color all in the same days work. It keep forever. I keep it rather thick, like for training, and thin a smaller amount in another container if I want some of it more liquid.

[Natas Setiabudhi]

I just wonder, what are the differences between slip and engobes? I thought what we are discussing is about engobe (slip coloring) not slip for body. Correct me if it was wrong..

[cambriapottery]

Claylover,

How are you using this slip? Temperatures? One greenware? Sounds like a good simple system for a good slip...what are you applying it to? Stoneware? Since Heidi also did a pitfering, I am assuming she has lowlier clay. I don't know is she has mid-range or high fire clay. So that would need to e determined for her specific need. I do like your system for slip. I use my porcelain scraps and soak them to a paste.

Marcia

 

 

 

Hi Marcia,

I use this for scrafitto and slip resist and trailing on ^6 leather hard clay. The clay is called Half And Half which is half porcelain, half white stoneware, I THINK, from HIghwater clay in Ashevile, NC. It is rated cone 6-10 and I use it on their cone 5-7 clays with no problems so far. I would think you could do this with any clay you used , depending on what you wanted to do with it.

The simple way of coloring ship is to use 1tsp. mason stain to 1 qt liquid slip. Adjust to suit afte a test firing. To get some sort of consistent color, I use the 'does the surface level out after stiring, method. Sort of works.

Doing this with a bag of clay gives me several qys of white that I divide up and color all in the same days work. It keep forever. I keep it rather thick, like for training, and thin a smaller amount in another container if I want some of it more liquid.

 

 

 

I have to try this. I am looking to work with crackle slip on stoneware cone 7/8 range, applying to greenware bisque usually cone 07. I have some old white earthenware kicking around I wonder if that would do crackle on the stoneware if some addition to it? Or is that insane.....