rfbceramics

Thanks all, I'm using the clay for working in soft slabs for handbuilding. Trying to balance a smooth finish, workability, and the lack of warping. If anyone has a recipe that is truly a midrange body, less than 0.5% absorption at temperature, I'm here for it. Ideally a body not relying on neph sy to get there. Changes to the original recipe: 1. I added the Hawthorn and XX-Sagger which dramatically reduced the warping of the body. 2. Removing Silica: Found that it was contributing to the strange behavior of the body. Removing it reduced the unworkability to some extent. 3. Reduced the Redart % and increased the % of Ball clay (both XX-Sagger and Old Hickory) I assume the problem has to do with particle packing and evenly distributed wetting. However, that is where my test of hand mixing workable clay should have gotten me to a less reasonable mix than the soldner.

Hello all, I've been working through clay bodies trying to find a cone 6 red body for working with soft slabs: highly plastic, workable, without grog, so I can maintain a smooth surface finish. I began with this Brown Clay Body: 60% Redart, 15% Goldart, 15% Ball, 10% silica. When mixed as homogenized as slip and then dried to workable, it behaves beautifully. However, when mixed dry, it is incredibly short and even after weeks of letting it sit, it is still unworkable for my purposes: unable to stretch and bend as a slab. When reclaiming the clay, if I do not blunger it, it remains short. I tweaked the recipe to 50% Redart, 15% Goldart, 17.5% Ball, 7.5% XX-Sagger, 10% Hawthorn 50 mesh. This seemed to give me slightly more workability and is still fully vitrified at cone 6 (0.25% absorption). When I mixed the recipe dry by hand in smaller batches to mimic the limited mixing of a Soldner mixer, it remained significantly plastic. However, I just mixed a 100lb batch in a Soldner mixer and it is unworkably short. Mixing in the Soldner: 27lbs water. Added Redart and mixed as I have found Redart to be a bit of a water hog. Then added goldart, ball, xx-sagger, and hawthorn. Any ideas on the materials or suggestions on a highly plastic, workable, vitreous, red clay body? Thanks in advance!