Speckles/Texture

[ont434]

Hello, I’m a novice potter and I have a couple specific questions about clay textures and glazing. I mostly use cone 6 stoneware but I’ve realized I really like clay bodies with what looks like a more granular texture, rather than completely smooth. I’ve also noticed a lot of pieces with speckles but it’s hard to tell if it’s glaze or mixing of clay/granuals that are wedged together before throwing. I also saw a video of a Japanese man who uses mica granular to achieve this look? I’m very confused. I’m sure there are many ways to achieve this look but I have no idea where to start. If I wanted a dark body with light speckles, my thought was to smash light colours thin bisque fired clay pieces into small pieces, putting it through a sieve, then wedging with darker clay. Is this silly? Any advice?

I’ve attached a link to better show what I’m talking about (and left credit to the artists).

https://imgur.com/a/Uf989N4

Thank you in advance!

[yappystudent]

4 minutes ago, ont434 said:

a more granular texture, rather than completely smooth

What you probably want is grog, which is purchased from clay suppliers, it is smashed up fired clay so you're on the right track. I have had nice results using sand also. The speckles are probably from iron but they might be other things too, iron will achieve the look and it's cheap. Lots of commercial glazes are around right now that are varying degrees of white with speckles. I like "Walnut Spice" (think it's Laguna but I've lost the tag) but literally every glaze maker makes one like it. It's a bit whiter than the one in the image with larger specks. I'll bet you can make your own pretty simply too. 

 

8 minutes ago, ont434 said:

If I wanted a dark body with light speckles, my thought was to smash light colours thin bisque fired clay pieces into small pieces, putting it through a sieve, then wedging with darker clay. Is this silly? Any advice?

That sounds like a good idea, but if you want to just buy it then there is a black clay called Cassius with small white specks, probably less than you want but you can always add more. It fires brown at cone o4, then turns black at ^6. 

[preeta]

Ont where are from? East coast west coast or a non us country? Both sides have speckled claybody that you could use. 

At cone 6 I have not seen speckling caused by glaze, only from the claybody.  Cone 10 I’ve seen a few glazes that gets its speckles from glaze additives. But that maybe due to my limited knowledge.  

Regarding mica (don’t know much about mica) but I do about ilmenite which gives the speckles in Speckled Buff Claybody from Laguna on the west coast. You need a certain grain size to be seen as speckles in the glaze. None of the stores where I live have coarse ilmenite. They have the fine powder.  

However I have used black sand (laying by a building site that they didn’t mind me having a couple of fistfuls) in my light clay body. Under a clear glaze I loved the peppered look.  

http://www.potters.org/subject12287.htm

[neilestrick]

I think my answer all depend on the what you mean by granular and speckles. If you just mean a bit rougher, then grog is the answer. If you mean really rough, like with stuff coming out of the clay, that is often achieved by wedging in granular feldspar, which melts out during the firing. If you want dark speckles, which are different than granules, that's either achieved by reduction firing stoneware bodies, or by mixing in granular manganese in the case of cone 6 bodies. Can you post some pics of what you're hoping to achieve?

[LeeU]

Adding granite dust (crushed stone/powder) to the surface is fun also. The "specks" are gritty and light colored, and you can get different sized granules from a stone cutting place. It can be worked into the body also and can make for a pitted look-have to experiment. 

[oldlady]

ont, you have described the work that is done by manufacturers to make clay bodies that have dark speckles in them right out of the box.  i used one from Standard clay in pittsburg named 112 when i started in the 1970s,  it is still being made and sold.   there is a similar one made by Miller, i do not know its name or number.   they seem to be commonly used all over.

 

[Denice]

I have mixed vermiculite in dark clay and it will give you larger white specks.  I have never glaze it so I don't know how it will react.    You just need to test, test and research  to get  the look you want.   Denice

[fergusonjeff]

I am pretty sure most cone 6 speckled clays (especially Laguna's speckled buff WC-403) use granular manganese for the dark speckles, not ilmenite.  The speckles bled well into most glazes.  I mix together a lot of different cone 6 clays but usually include 50% speckled buff for the speckles. 

 

[ont434]

Wow, thank you all so much for the feedback! I really wasn't expecting much help, the woman who runs the studio I go to has made it clear she doesn't want to answer any of my questions or help me at all. Thank you so much