Standard Clay's New Formulas

[Clay17]

Has anyone used Standard's new formula clay? If so what is your opinion?

I'm gathering the change has do do with them swapping AM-TAL talc for feldspar and only effects a few of their white clay bodies.

I noticed their 563 went from 1% absorption to 2%

[neilestrick]

I 630 has changed, too, but I don't know the specifics yet. I just got a batch this week and will be testing it soon.

[Clay17]

I look forward to hearing your results

[neilestrick]

I opened up a bag of the new 630 yesterday and tried it out on the wheel. It feels totally different than the original formula. It feels like they took out the fire clay and replaced it with ball clay, although the web site still says it has fireclay in it.  It creates a lot of slurry when throwing. Personally, I feel like it has lost most of the properties that made me like it, however it still seemed to throw well. I'm going to give some to my students and see what they think. I don't use it for my work so it doesn't really matter what I think, as long as it is still a forgiving body that's easy to throw and will work well for beginners. I've got a test tile in the kiln right now that I'm going to test for absorption tonight.

[neilestrick]

Kiln had a dead relay overnight, so I will not be doing the absorption tests tonight. I did trim a piece I threw with the new 630, and it trims nicely, similar to the old body. It still has the same light grit, as before, but it seems like there are more fine particles. I'm really interested in seeing how the fired color differs, if at all. More updates tomorrow...

[Pres]

I'll be interested in your findings, as I use the 630 and will be ordering another batch of clay this Summer.

 

best,

Pres

[neilestrick]

I ran an absorption test of the new 630- 44 hour soak with a 2 hour boil in the middle, the best I could do with my schedule this week. Absorption came out to 1.2%, which is great. My kiln fires to a strong cone 6, probably closer to 6 1/2, but even at 6 it should be well within acceptable range. I don't fire to cone 5 and my baby kiln is out of commission right now so I can't do a cone 5 test for a couple more weeks.

I gave some of the clay to one of my students yesterday and her initial reaction was the same as mine- it didn't feel at all like the old 630 and she didn't like it. However after throwing a couple of pieces she again had the same realization as me, which is that it still throws well, it's just different. I'm going to make a few pieces with it tonight and see if it's still as forgiving as the old formula. You could really abuse the old stuff without any problems- very little S-cracking and handles never pulled away.

[RobS]

Neil,

Thanks for taking the time to test and report on Standard's new formulation.  I too use 630 and was/am worried about the new recipe.  I still have a couple of hundred pounds from a ton I bought 3 years ago but I'll be needing more soon.  I finally have some glazes dialed in for this clay body and now it changes :(.  If you happen to do any glaze testing on the new body, please update this thread as I'm very interested in the new formula and how it behaves with my glazes.  Thank you.

[neilestrick]

6 hours ago, RobS said:

If you happen to do any glaze testing on the new body, please update this thread as I'm very interested in the new formula and how it behaves with my glazes. 

I run about 15 glazes in my studio, and they're used on at least 4 different clay bodies, so I won't be any help in terms of how they fit on the 630 specifically because I don't try to fit any of them to any one body. But I will post if there's any difference in appearance or behavior.

[Clay17]

Thanks Neil

I just my hands on some of the new 563 to sample. I'll be throwing some early next week and report back here.

[neilestrick]

I've worked on a few more pieces with the new 630, and it seems to be every bit as forgiving as the old formula. Handles and knobs attach well and don't pull away, it tolerates fast drying, etc. Yes, it feels different, but it's still seems to be a very nice body. I'm hoping to fire a few pieces in the next week and see how glazes respond.

[Clay17]

I had a chance to throw some of the new 563 and it throws wonderfully.  At first, straight out of the bag I thought it was to soft. I decided not to wedge the first ball just to see how it goes. To my surprise its as good if not better the the old formula. I had no problems getting 3/32" (2.5mm) walls the first time around. I went even thinner on the next few balls, which were wedged. On the last ball I decided to push the limit and achieved 1mm walls.

Next up: firing, glazing and absorptions tests

The reason I switched from 630 to 563 was because my supplier couldn't get 630 during the formula change.  Depending on how the absorption rates go after firing I'm considering to permanently switch to 563

[neilestrick]

15 minutes ago, Clay17 said:

I had a chance to throw some of the new 563 and it throws wonderfully.  At first, straight out of the bag I thought it was to soft. I decided not to wedge the first ball just to see how it goes. To my surprise its as good if not better the the old formula. I had no problems getting 3/32" (2.5mm) walls the first time around. I went even thinner on the next few balls, which were wedged. On the last ball I decided to push the limit and achieved 1mm walls.

Next up: firing, glazing and absorptions tests

The reason I switched from 630 to 563 was because my supplier couldn't get 630 during the formula change.  Depending on how the absorption rates go after firing I'm considering to permanently switch to 563

Is the 563 more yellow than the 630? If you sponge the surface does it get rough?

[Clay17]

I haven't even bisque fired yet, so take with a grain of salt.

IMO since 563 doesn't have fire clay and mullite it will be whiter than 630. The old 563 had porcelain gorg and I'm not sure if the new one does but I'm going to guess its going to fire pretty white.

Sponging  the surface or shammying the lip leaves the surface smooth. Even when its more than leather hard you can take a wet finger over the lip and it smooths out nicely, not at all like 630.

Also, it doesn't create a lot of slurry.

[Morgan]

Was there any changes to 365 (did not seem like it per their site)? My latest bags of it are almost a tan color when next to the older batch. Feels pretty similar as far as I can tell does not seem as stiff in holding its form when throwing but maybe its in my head. 

Edited March 6 by Morgan

[neilestrick]

@Morgan I noticed the color change in 365, too. It's a little more orange in raw form. It reminds me of a porcelain body I used to mix that had VeeGum-T in it which made it orange. I asked if there were any changes and they said no, so it's probably just a change in one of the raw materials. It still fires out the same color.

[neilestrick]

I finally got a couple of pieces made with the new 630 glaze fired, and they look great! The new formula is a little warmer in color than the old. A little more creamy rather than gray. The glazes look great, I really have no complaints at all. In fact, overall I'd say the new formula is wonderful, possibly even better than the old one.

[Morgan]

17 hours ago, neilestrick said:

@Morgan I noticed the color change in 365, too. It's a little more orange in raw form. It reminds me of a porcelain body I used to mix that had VeeGum-T in it which made it orange. I asked if there were any changes and they said no, so it's probably just a change in one of the raw materials. It still fires out the same color.

Ok it wasn’t my eyes going bad  thanks @neilestrick!

[Clay17]

 I've been meaning to get back to this post, sorry its been awhile. Here are my results from using the 563 clay body.

Good News - All my glazes work perfectly with this body.

Bad News - I tested unglazed samples for both shrinkage and absorption by firing the clay to a solid ^6 in my electric kiln. I weighed the samples directly out of the kiln and let them sit in water for 24hrs. I also filled a mug up with water and placed it on some paper. The paper was wrinkled and almost damp. Absorption rate is a little over 3%. I ran this rest twice just to be certain I didn't goof up.

Sadly, I can't use this body.

[Min]

@Clay17, sorry the clay didn't work but thank you for sharing your results. Your findings are helpful for anyone using Standard 563 and a good reminder to test for absorption.

[Mark C.]

That Brand of clay is not on the west coast at all as far as I know. Not sure how  you would get it to Kauai  for under an arm and a leg

[Morgan]

On 3/25/2023 at 11:08 AM, Mark C. said:

That Brand of clay is not on the west coast at all as far as I know. Not sure how  you would get it to Kauai  for under an arm and a leg

As insane as it sounds the difference in bulk freight on a a pallet from the west cost vs tons of 50lb flat rate boxes is not that substantially different price wise. I have gone back and forth debating on getting 2 tons of frost at a time freight from laguna and honestly it is not even that big of a difference. I still may do it (made another thread about Frost) It is slightly cheaper, but not as much as you may think. It is still costly no matter how ya slice it and part of what makes being a potter out here hard, but it is what it is. That said, I have the luxury of endless tourists, fantastic artisan/farmers markets daily and a clientele that do not even bother looking at price tags as well, so there's that.

[Clay17]

On 2/7/2023 at 9:57 AM, neilestrick said:

I opened up a bag of the new 630 yesterday and tried it out on the wheel. It feels totally different than the original formula. It feels like they took out the fire clay and replaced it with ball clay, although the web site still says it has fireclay in it.  It creates a lot of slurry when throwing. Personally, I feel like it has lost most of the properties that made me like it, however it still seemed to throw well. I'm going to give some to my students and see what they think. I don't use it for my work so it doesn't really matter what I think, as long as it is still a forgiving body that's easy to throw and will work well for beginners. I've got a test tile in the kiln right now that I'm going to test for absorption tonight.

I had a chance to play with some of the new 630, it's different than the 563. I throw thin and dry and the 1st pot slumped even when I thought it still needed to be thinner. By the 3rd pot I cured that problem.  I'm still waiting for the pots to dry before I can test how the new body fires.

I noticed red-orange specks in the clay which leads me to believe  Standard is using red brick as grog, That's not unusual just surprising. 

I'm still on the fence if I like it or not and if it will work for me.

[neilestrick]

35 minutes ago, Clay17 said:

I noticed red-orange specks in the clay which leads me to believe  Standard is using red brick as grog, That's not unusual just surprising. 

There is no grog in the 630. Could be from the fireclay, though, or some sort of contamination. I've not seen it in any of my clay.

[Min]

1 hour ago, neilestrick said:

Could be from the fireclay, though, or some sort of contamination.

@Clay17, I recently ran into a clay that was using Lincoln 60 fireclay in the body and it has a lot of stuff in it that didn't pass through a 60 mesh sieve. I made some slip from a new chunk of claybody (right out the bag then dried and slaked) through a sieve then rinsed it under tap water to see how much there was. Don't know if there is Lincoln 60 in the 630 clay or not but it's a quick way to check for grit.

Edited April 11 by Min