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I need to find the best All-In-One clay for cone 5, great for both hand building and wheel throwing I know. That's a tall order. But I can dream. I have a pug mill and don't want 2 bodies. Problem: I have too many problems with my gas kiln for cone 06 anymore. I'm DONE. I am moving to cone 5. Criteria / Factors: I'm in Southern California I teach 180 high school students grades 9-12, all levels of art skills, so it has to take punishment Not too sandy on the wheel, not too smooth or squishy for hand building Not too dense so it is so top-heavy when trimming I'm willing to pug the new clay to soften it for throwing, if it is stiff and great for hand building, or visa versa Doesn't stain clothes or the tables, rolling pins, or make a mess everywhere Is not pure white (students can't see where they missed glazing spots when using light color glazes - painting) Good leather hard, doesn't soften up too easily when re-wetting to score things together Doesn't take every indentation to the surface of pieces, temperamentalD Centers on the wheel fairly easily, especially for teen girls with tiny hands Can take a good amount of water from beginners Pulling walls, it is strong, doesn't warp or sag easily Won't dry out too quickly in hands while hand building Doesn't bend or warp easily when removing from the wheel Not so soft that it caves when cutting and sliding off the wheel Doesn't make teens hate the class because it stains clothes or gets everywhere and of course, takes glazes well and can handle a little fluctuation in gas environments Cone 5 clays I've Tried: Laguna - Dover White: Nice clay, but pure white. easy to center, but A little soft when hand building Laguna - Plain (Buff): Nice light tan color, easy center and to rehydrate if repairing, but a bit too squishy and shows every dent Laguna - Moroccan Sand: I love this clay, doesn't leave residue - color, but a bit dense to center. It is really dark grayish brown, if they only could lighten it Laguna - Buff with Sand: Nice tan color, but WAY too sandy for students on the wheel Laguna - Greystone: Too dense and top heavy for small pieces, hard to center, but really takes a beating with water, warps when thin due to density of surrounding clay Laguna - Speckled Buff: A bit dark in color, has iron so it gets read everywhere, could stain (think girls with pure white vans) Laguna - LB-6: hmmm, can't remember, but nixed it very soon after Laguna - Sante Fe: OMG - red EVERYWHERE, like a crime scene Aardvark Clay - SBF - Too dark tan - a bit sticky for students Aardvark Clay -Arctic White: Too white Opinions???? Go!!!

I really need some help with the mixing of high fire glazes and medium. I have these 2 urns and my plan was to have a shiny white interior (stoneware 1200° C) interior with Amaco brush on on the outside, I've done the inside firing to 1200 with a 20min hold. My problem is that the interior has crawled badly so I thought I'd put crushed glass into it and refire, but having already fired to 1200 will the Amaco glazes actually work? TIA Andrea

Hello! Is it possible to high fire a glaze on the interior of a cup and around its lip, and to then pit fire? I'm trying to find a way to make pit-fired cups food/water-safe! I'm assuming that this process wouldn't affect the high-fire glaze, but perhaps the outside (unglazed) body would no longer be able to take in the marvelous colors produced in a pit fire? I'm new to this process, but will be doing a ton of experimenting over the coming months with local blue clay that I've begun harvesting. Thanks for any insights!

Help! I am having issues with underglazes disappearing in spots during glaze firings. I paint the underglazes (usually Duncan or Speedball) onto greenware and fire in a bisque kiln to cone 06. Then I dip my pieces in a clear glaze and fire to cone 6. When the pieces come out of the bisque firing, they are totally fine. After the glaze firing however, some pieces will have small round spots that look like the clear glaze and colored underglaze just JUMPED right off the pot. All my pieces are wiped down before applying the clear glaze, and as I already stated, they look perfect after the first firing.. I have had this happen on the inside of bowls, as well as the outside. Why would this be happening? Thanks in advance!

This might be a very stupid question, so bear with me. Recently one of my pieces has split at the bottom (I made it too thick). I have both pieces and I know that when glazes are fired they connect with anything they touch. Is it possible to reattach the pieces just by glazing the sides that are detached?

I know that high fire stone ware is oven safe and dishwasher safe, but is it microwave safe?

What is your favorite clay for slab building small projects. Grog or no grog? Porcelain? Thanks! Linda

Hello, I am curious about the incorporation of metals into ceramic sculpture for aesthetic reasons. At my university we use mostly stoneware (although we can make or buy our own clay bodies) and the ^10 is the normal firing temp although we can independently fire at lower cones. To use metals with the sculpture they must obviously be bisque fired together- as they will be apart of the clay (there will be obvious shrinkage but I plan to accommodate that) I guess my question is, if I were to use stoneware (for sculpture) and fire at a lower temp say... Bisque at 06 and fire at ^5 - ^6 up to the melting point of the metal used ... Would it make the sculpture super fragile considering the stoneware wasn't fired to it's fully matured temp... Any suggestions on a hardy low fire (^5 -6) clay body, or what metal should be used... What all metals CAN be used? I am curious about bronze (which would have to be fired at an even lower temp) or maybe just tiny scraps of steel... These metal pieces will be small decorations protruding out from the sculpture- and I'm not even sure if this is possible, I'm somewhat inexperienced, but if anyone has any info I would GREATLY appreciate it! Thank you! -June

Has anyone attempted to use natural iron pyrite in a clear base glaze to a mid to high fire on stoneware? I would like to use iron pyrite collected directly from area streams which may contain minute amounts of gold or silver. I would like to avoid having to completely reinvent the wheel. I have a propane updraft kiln. Any advice or educated guesses are welcome.