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Hi all! The company we work with that formulates our slip is having difficulties achieving the necessary properties for casting. The issues are due to the fact that they are taking a plastic throwing body, and are trying to convert it into a casting slip. Due to the fact that we have little control of that formulation, I do not know the exact recipe for the slip. We are just curious how difficult it is to create a Mid-Range Red Casting Slip that is properly flocculated, and casts evenly with no issues. After firing, the color we are trying to achieve is a Red-Orange, preferably something that withstands thermal shock since we are creating drinking vessels. Does anyone have any recipes, or reasons why a high-iron casting slip acts weird? Thank you all for your time!

Hi Guys, I am looking for answers everywhere........Maybe I will find it here......... I have mixed up a iron red glaze that I did not mix for a while. I used ingredients that is 10 years old and older. The end result was a flat brown instead of the rich red brown that it was before. I repeated the recipe, thinking I made a mistake, ending up with the same results. Then I thought maybe I used the wrong recipe and compared it with similar recipes getting to the conclusion that I did not make a mistake. So someone said the problem is the iron that changed over time. This was the first time I heard that in all the 36+ years I am in clay. Is that true and if so, can I fix the iron, or do I trash it? I assume that if that is true, it has to do with the oxidation process. Then someone mentioned the bone ash - artificial versus real, which raised the question with me if the bone ash may "expire", since I used the real thing. As I said: I used the exact same materials that I used on porcelain before. All these (except the silica and maybe the Custer) came from batches that I had in my studio for the best part of 15-18 years. (yes I have some valuable materials.....) The recipe is no secret, it is similar to many others available online, but the reason I want to do it again is because over time some of the plates that I glazed with it, wore off, which told me that there is maybe not enough silica in this recipe. So I want to alter it some, but first need to make sure I have the color right. Ralph’s Terracotta. Custer F. 41 Talc 9 Bone ash 13 Lith Carb. 2 Kentucky Ball clay 13 Silica 13 Add: Iron ox 9 Ideas please........... PorcelainbyAntoinette TeachinArt

HI, I have some slightly pink clay with (iron?) rocks which generally crush up in the mixing process. I am using it to low fire 30cm flat +-5mm tiles in a sawdust firing without bisquing first. Firstly, how fine do these particles need to be? Can I get away with a 5mm mesh or will sediment this big blow up piece in firing? (given that I am only firing low and it is not functional ware?) or do I really need to get all the lumps out?? Secondly - I found a page that recommends about 1.85 specific gravity for slip casting. Any thoughts? Thirdly, does anyone have tios or useful videos of how to keep temp rising fairly slowly to reduce thermal shock. I have ref. bricks that I am making a rectangle with and using a piece of reo. bar to hold tiles vertically off base so they don't fall and break. Doesn;t matter if some break as I can put those on the base of this conceptual installation piece. Making +- 300 tiles. Fourthly - to defloc or not?? I have sodium silicate - am pouring a 1.5 sq metre area and then cutting up tiles... Yes, I am on a steep learning curve here! Assistance gratefully received. Cheers, Fiona

Hi! I am super beginner in making pottery. I'd like to make a pot thin but hard like metal. I've found a pot in a garbage looks like this https://cookniche.com/Photo.aspx?name=MitchiburgCeramics&IDservice=11440 it seems like it has irons on the surface. Would these irons make the pot harder? or is this only for decorating the surface? could you let me know any other ways to make a pot harder? thanks!

Hi guys, I am fairly new to ceramics and to this community. I wanted to ask if anyone had experiences/knowledge around sprinkling iron filings on pots with wet surfaces - right after glazing. Is it food safe? I know that there are glazes with high iron content but wanted to achieve a uneven effect with bigger speckles. This idea came about while watching and reading about a father and son potters from K. H. Wurtz. Here's a link of the video: On their website under their bio they mention the use of iron filings sprinkled on pots too. Any information about temperature, type of glazes, type of clay and their effects would be much appreciated. Regards, Jason

I want to make a thicker iron oxide for brushing onto my pieces. First off its a complete mess when mixed with water. Second all the iron particles end up at the bottom unless you are continually stirring which still makes for an inconsistent tone and tint of the application. What is the general rule for getting suspension of particles in a water based stain / glaze / etc... a frit? I'm firing at cone 6 always and cone 04 for bisque. The application will be on bisqueware not greenware.

I was experimenting with some Hakame and made a brush from grass broom bristles which seems to be fine as far as the tool is concerned (the synthetic broom bristles might be an interesting alternative too as you could space them out and create a "comb"). The issue that I ran into is that instead of doing it with slip I am doing it with glaze. It turned out pretty interesting but I'm not getting the flow that I want which is in the second photo. Any tips on getting that type of flow? The color pallate that I"m working with is exactly what I want and using another slip I might consider eventually but I'm trying to stick with working with minimal amount of variables at this time.