Jump to content

Mixing Dry Glaze With Clay Bodies


Ryan_pelo

Recommended Posts

I'm in a high school ceramics class and I have done a little bit of experiementation in glazing myself, but I was wondering what would happen if I mixed a dry glaze with a clay body? In my head, I envision that I would mix the two and then wedge it until the mixture was uniform. My only concern would be that when I fire my piece, it might stick to the floor of the kiln. I couldn't find anything online about this subject so I was wondering if anyone knew what the outcome might look like?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Think that if you try this without firing the pieces inside a bisque bowl like OldLady said you might get sent to the back of the class to grind shelves.  ;) 

If you go your route of mixing clay and glaze I would suggest measuring out the weights of stuff and keeping good notes, plus wear a respirator and gloves. If you are just looking for coloured clay maybe read up on adding stain to clay. Chris Campbell on these forums does lovely work with coloured porcelain.

 

There are self glazing clays like Val Cushings ^6 Parian Porcelain but they are so low in clay they are very hard to work with. There is also Egyptian Paste for low fire, several recipes in that link. Again though, very low clay contents so really only practical for small hand built stuff.

 

This is the recipe for the Cushing ^6 Parian Porcelain if you want it to try. 

Grolleg 10

Tile 6 kaolin 10

epk 10

C&C ball clay 10

Minspar 60 (subbed for original Kona F-4)

Macaloid 2

 

Good luck with your testing, would love to see your results if you give this a go.

edit: lots of kiln wash on your bisque catcher bowls. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have done that in my own classroom, by accident...

 

We often reclaimed/ recycled clay by taking dryer scraps, then hydrating them to a thick slurry.  We'd then use bone dry powder to work into that slurry to dry and thicken it.  (Note:  I don't do this anymore, because it was a huge mess, and a hazard due to all the dust it created).

 

Anyway, one of my student helpers, was told to grab a new bag of said clay powder.  We didn't find out until a firing, that they grabbed a bag of glaze powder instead.  The projects made with it, which was only a couple, melted quite a bit.  This was just during bisque, so only about Cone 04/ 05.  

As I recall, they didn't really stick to the shelves.  I just had a couple students, who lost a project, and gained my deepest apologies...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe something that wouldn't be such a disaster in the firing would be taking dry glaze and making crumb and roll them onto the surface.

I think your original idea would be a kiln disaster. As a former teacher on a state budget, I really cringe at the idea of a student doing that a kiln, shelves and other students' work.

When experimenting , talk to your teacher and use every precaution to not damage the equipment. Put your piece in a dish with 1-2" walls.

I admire your curiosity which is great for thinking outside the box. But a community kiln needs protection. Possibly it may not be replaced.

 

Marcia

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ryan:

 

What you are proposing, runs on the order of frit-ware. (Not exact, but coming into that realm.)  Here is a recent thread on frit-ware:

Now for the bad news: like Marcia; I am impressed by your curiosity and willingness to try new things. However, what you are proposing will be a melted glob on a shelf when you get done. Yet, I will still give you four out of five stars for exploring new ideas.

 

Nerd

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm in a high school ceramics class and I have done a little bit of experiementation in glazing myself, but I was wondering what would happen if I mixed a dry glaze with a clay body? In my head, I envision that I would mix the two and then wedge it until the mixture was uniform. My only concern would be that when I fire my piece, it might stick to the floor of the kiln. I couldn't find anything online about this subject so I was wondering if anyone knew what the outcome might look like?

 

The outcome will depend how you mix the two ingredients ('clay' and 'glaze powder') and the ratio of the two ingredients.

The firing temperature (a.k.a. cone) will also be an important variable. 

 

If the ratio is lots of 'clay' and a little of the 'glaze powder' and the two are well mixed, i.e. uniformly distributed,  the results quite similar to clay without the 'glaze powder'.  As you add more 'glaze powder' the fired condition at the same temperature will change toward a more melted condition. At the extreme where there is only a little bit of 'clay' so that the mixture is mostly 'glaze powder' the result will be the same as fully melted (fired) glaze. 

 

It is possible, but not necessarily probable, that at some intermediate ration between the extremes of all 'clay' and all 'glaze powder' the whole mess will be a runny liquid glass.

 

The experiment is a good one for learning about the materials of ceramics and would be a good high school science project, especially if you can get some help and advice from a chemistry teacher. 

 

Keep your ceramics teacher informed as to what you are doing, and keep your pieces small and manageable until you have some data to support your belief that things will be OK. 

 

I have done a lot these kinds of experiments by making small test pieces, size between a quarter and a dime, and firing the piece inside a small unglazed pinch pot.  When things are OK I then scale up to golf ball size for round two.

 

LT

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.