Making earthenware more Orange

[Hands On]

Hello all

I am working solely in earthenware and wondered what I could add to my clay body to make it a brighter orange. 

Thanks 

[Kelly in AK]

One thing that’s useful to know is how your clay develops over a temperature range. It could be that simply firing to a different temperature gives you the color you’re after.

See these links from Tony Hansen’s Digitalfire website:

https://digitalfire.com/picture/baftunycyg

https://digitalfire.com/picture/5m5aJocQuR

[neilestrick]

Red earthenware bodies get their color from iron. Adding iron will only make it darker, and it's a bad way to color a clay as it tends to increase brittleness. Generally red bodies get darker the hotter you fire them. So firing lower will give you a more orange and less red color. However firing lower may not be an option with your glazes, and it also will increase the porosity of the body. If you want a truly orange body, then you may want to try adding a stain to your clay, but that may work best with a white body.