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Hi, I have made large female busts with Standard Ceramics sculpture clay that I have made into paper clay. It fires at ^2-^6 and the paper is burned out at the bisque stage. Because it is heavily grogged and I need a smooth finish for my glaze decoration, I rib it with a toothed rib when leatherhard to pull out the surface grog. I then sieve the same clay slip to remove grog and paint over the scored surface to create a smooth surface for glazing. I also brush on a layer of Amaco white underglaze to give a brighter background surface for the glazes. After bisque firing, I wipe off any loose dust etc. on the surface and then paint elaborate designs with Mayco's Stroke and Coat glazes, 3 coats. I then refire the piece only to ^06. As I open the kiln (at 100 degrees F, or less) I can hear the glaze pinging like crazy and on inspection can watch long cracks forming where the glaze is trying to fit the clay. On the curved areas, small sections of glaze lift up and I can see that much of the glaze surface is starting to shiver off the piece. I am exceedingly frustrated, can anyone give solutions?

I'm keen to try burnishing paper clay for Raku firing at around 1852 f I have some pieces that I have made using paper clay that I have made from local clay collected from a nearby beach that has quite a bit of salt in it - I have two batches, one that I have rinsed , dried and re-constituted and the other from raw clay that has not been rinsed I've noticed that when I scrape the surface of the pieces, there is a shine that is begging to come forth! - I might just continue-on with burnishing with a pebble I collected from the same beach to see if the surface comes up to shine but I've been looking at making Terra Sigillata and wondering whether it would be best to use the same paper clay in the mix or if it might work to use an earthenware clay in the recipe better? Has anyone tried working an earthenware clay slip / glaze effect into a paper clay body? Many thanks

I bought a 25 lb. block of paper clay for experimentation. After using half of the block, I would like to save what is left for additional experiments based on the results of firing and glazing. Of course mold is a problem. Has anyone who has worked with paper clay allowed it dry, break the up, add water and work it into a ball ready for a few more projects? I was thinking of rolling the remaining clay into slabs, let them dry and later when I'm ready reconstitute the clay. I will be doing reduction raku, horse hair, single fire with clear over under glazes, and some small sculpture with fine thin detail.

Fiber clay question: I am adept at making paper clay. But while in the UK this fall, I fell in love with Scarva Flax Clays. I can't seem to locate Scarva or flax fiber suppliers here in the US. Even if I did find flax to make my own (I've seen some for fabric/yarn producers) I wouldn't know what kind to get. Anyone have an insight on this? Thanks!