Hand Mixing Mason Stain And Issue With Speckles

[moh]

Hi there,

I've been making colored clay body (black) from mason stain. Every batch when thrown ends up with these spots where the mason stain is not completely mixed in. It feels like massive amounts of wedging still doesn't fix the problem.

 

I first take the stain, pour some water in just enough to make into heavy cream consistency, then spread it over the clay body (porcelain) and wedge about 120-130 times per 10# of wet clay.

 

Any tips would be appreciated.

 

Thank you!

[Joseph Fireborn]

I haven't done this for stains but slam and cut techniques are much better for blending. I prefer it when I am blending two commercial bodies together. Spiral wedging is more for quick air bubble outage and alignment imo.

 

I'm not sure the math but a hundred slam and cut is in the millions of wedges I believe.

 

https://youtu.be/HApNjUnI9U4

 

Edit found video in case not sure what I was talking about.

[Min]

I'ld mix the stain into a slip then dry it out on plaster then wedge it up. Would be more accurate to weigh out dry clay and stain so you can replicate the colour.

[Marcia Selsor]

I agree. Use that same clay for your slip and throw it in a blender and add the stains. Then pour it onto a plaster slab to stiffen into a workable state.

Marcia

[Pugaboo]

Second or third(?) for mixing dry clay body and stain into a slip and blending really well then drying and using. It's so much easier to duplicate things if you can start with accurate weights.

 

On another note.... I kind of like the coloring reminds me of Birch trees.

 

T

[douglas]

It looks like you don't have anywhere near enough stain in order to make the clay black. You may be able to break the stain down into smaller dots, but you are going to have white clay with black speckles unless you up the percentage of stain.

[moh]

Thank you Min and Marcia, blending with slip did the trick!