Jump to content

Is There Any Way To Give Stoneware White Clay The Look And Feel Of Terracotta?


Recommended Posts

I do not use terracotta because I am high fire focused, but I like the color so I have experimented using some iron oxide to mimic that terra cotta look in standard cone 9-10 stoneware.

 

if you are making the clay try experimenting with some iron oxide in the clay body.   1% or 2% by weight should do it?  I have dirtied up some stoneware this way and it now looks (very?) similar to a local commercial red stoneware we have called RGH.

 

If you don't have control over the claybody agree that slip is the way to go.  Again 1% or 2% iron oxide added to 100% of your claybody should do the trick.

 

Let us know how you go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Sorry to be so stingy on personal details. I guess it is a throwback to the days before social media when personal information was actually private rather than splashed around all over Internet (I am still appalled about what I can find out - and see - about myself or anyone else with a 30 second search)

I live in Perth Western Australia, an ancient land in geological terms (but isn't that true of pretty much everywhere?). It is a big place - imagine if the US had one state which started at Denver, stretched north and south from Canada to Mexico, and included everything west of there all the way to LA. Several Texases would fit inside it. Now imagine that the land area just described only contained about 2.5 million people , 80% of whom lived in LA and the rest scattered around everywhere else. Well that is pretty much Western Australia.

We have low hills here which back in the day were three times as high as the Rocky Mountains. They hold deposits of ALOT of stuff for anyone who is willing to go out and hunt for it (but again isn't that true of everywhere?). Iron ore is the headliner - most of the steel in the device you are touching now probably came from Western Australia (courtesy of the Chinese of course). There are also plenty of other minerals and many types and grades of clay deposits from very white creamy kaolin all the way to deep red ironstone. You could waste pretty much an entire potter's lifetime finding and testing different materials - something I am constantly in danger of out here on the far side of the planet.

Regarding "stuff", other than a range of ash glazes I am slowly working on (mostly eucalyptus ash), I am currently having fun using the many byproducts of my constant sample gathering to pollute my clay bodies and glazes. I sieve most things I pick up and use different "grades" of sieved-out material as additions to my plain old stoneware clay-bodies. This has provided some intriguing results, like the photos below.

 

native material tests ready For bisque firing

 

native material big casino!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The one I use the most in studio is an 5000 gram max electronic Ohaus that I bought on sale from Bailey but the one I use in the house which works just as well is the 8000 gram my weight  I got on amazon-there are many types but this one turns out is plenty accurate.You can get them for much less as well.For $34 its great for most applications.These new electronic scales hit me a few years back like a ton of bricks while reading about them here on this forum. I had been cave maning with my triple beam  for over 35 years and these scales have saved me so much time.  They also make a 7000 gram for less. 

http://www.amazon.com/Kitchen-Scale-Bakers-KD8000-Weight/dp/B001NE0FU2/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1429838965&sr=1-1&keywords=my+weigh+scale

 

this one also look fine

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004164SRA/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

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.