making clay less plastic

[s6x]

I'm trying to make my clay less plastic.  Was about to add sand, but thought I'd run it by the forum first to see if someone has expertise in this area?  The reason is that I want to achieve the crumbling effect depicted in this  image I've attached.  Any idea what kind of clay this black/brown clay is? 

[Callie Beller Diesel]

Sand or other temper like grog, chicken grit, large mesh feldspar, etc will indeed make a clay body less plastic.

As to the clay body pictured, I think the colour has less to do with the underlying material and more to do with how it was fired. If I had to guess, I’d say it was pit fired. That’s if it’s clay at all. 

[PeterH]

You might find something of interest in these.

In the Studio: Supersizing Clay Bodies
https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/pottery-making-illustrated/pottery-making-illustrated-article/In-the-Studio-Supersizing-Clay-Bodies#

Additions to clay bodies (sampler)
https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/19109768/download-a-free-excerpt-ceramic-arts-daily

Grog
https://digitalfire.com/material/grog

 

[s6x]

1 hour ago, PeterH said:

You might find something of interest in these.
 

this is great! thank you!

[Min]

I believe the image in the first post is a work by Yō Akiyama and is from his work using stoneware, heat and peeling off layers of clay to achieve the cracks.  If you search his name you can find many examples of his work.

From this Wikipedia link:

"Akiyama developed and fine-tuned the latter technique in the 1980s while experimenting with the feasibility of peeling the outer skin off a ball of clay, in the same way that one might peel a fruit. To achieve this, he heated a ball of clay with a gas burner, creating a shape with a soft center and a hard, outer shell. Since that first experiment, Akiyama has refined his technique and manipulated this template to create a multitude of cracks and chasms on the surface of his pieces, in some cases completely inverting the shape."

 

 

Edited September 21, 2023 by Min