Standard 266 ?

[clay lover]

I got a couple of boxes of this ,looking for a dark brown clay. It is rated cone 4-6. The suppliers said it might bloat at hot 6. He said dark clays were more likely to do this.

Do you use Standard 266 and what is your experience ?

[S. Dean]

There have been other threads on here regarding 266, so a search may be worthwhile.  

 

I use 266 at a local community center.  Due to its color, It is one of the favorite clays among the students.  It is beautiful when it comes out right, however it can be temperamental.  

 

The community center glaze fires between cone 5 and 6.  It can bloat in the hotter firings/parts of the kiln - but not always.  If I recall correctly, Neil said that this should be considered a Cone 5 clay with the caveat that there is no guarantee that it will be problem free at cone 5.  I experience more bloating with hand built pieces, especially if they are on the thicker side.  Almost always get bloating on a glaze re-fires.  The problems can be intermittent, and some batches seem to have more problems than others.

 

Throws nicely - kind of like a dark brown cream cheese as it has no grog.  It's work to clean up your wheel after a throwing session.  All in all, I use it with the knowledge that there are trade offs which have to be accepted.

 

-SD

[GEP]

"The suppliers said it might bloat at hot 6. He said dark clays were more likely to do this. "

 

Yes I have experienced this myself. But I've had no problems with it at cone 5.5.

[flowerdry]

Love 266.  Throws so nicely, looks great with some of the glazes I like.  At my community studio, we have had to get rid of it due to the bloating problems.

[oldlady]

if you are looking for a grog-free clay that fires a nice toasty red-brown at cone 6, try the one my friend Robin Teas invented.  there was a discussion about this several years ago.  combine half and half  XXX saggar clay with redart. add water.    that's it.  it wasn't compliated enough for some of the tech people who think lots of ingredients make a good clay.    lots of ingredients make it more complicated, not better. 

[neilestrick]

266 tends to bloat at cone 6 in my kilns. Very thin pieces like jewelry tend to do okay at 6, but pots often bloat.

[clay lover]

Do you think it's that particular clay,or any really dark clays that will have the bloating problem ?