Patty C. Posted July 8, 2013 Report Share Posted July 8, 2013 I recently toured the Belleek factory in Ireland and found that they use gum of arabic in their clay body to be able to make those delicate and intricate basket forms. The gum of arabic apparently allows the clay to be more pliable and not crack while forming the basket shape. Does anyone know the process and proportions for adding gum of arabic to clay for this purpose? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benzine Posted July 8, 2013 Report Share Posted July 8, 2013 Hmmm....That's interesting. My college instructor, told me stories of people using caulk in their clay bodies, to make long coil strands. It's basically the same idea, only I think the caulk burning out, would smell a lot more than gum arabic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicAxe Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 Gum arabic disolves in water, so with clay you probably don't need much, just wedge some prepared Gum into the clay and make it homogenous and you shouldn't have a problem ... Dang it, now I want to try it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterH Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 Patty, from Potterycrafts http://www.potterycrafts.co.uk/Products/00030010/P3382-05 Gum ArabicAn alternative to glaze binder it may also be used as a plasticiser - (2.5 % of the dry weight of the clay) for increasing the dry strength of bodies. Regards, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patty C. Posted July 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 Peter, Thank you so much for the information. I will definitely try this. Patty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldlady Posted July 15, 2013 Report Share Posted July 15, 2013 the picture in the potterycrafts catalog shows something that looks like clay. my gum arabic is a powder. is it the same product? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterH Posted July 15, 2013 Report Share Posted July 15, 2013 Oldlady, The picture in the Potterycrafts reference does indeed seem to be a bag of clay, and selling gum arabic by the 5kg bag seems strange in itself. However, I expect text I quoted on the addition rate is still what they meant to say. Gum arabic tends to come as lumps: http://tinyurl.com/qaz2s2q ... or as a powder: http://tinyurl.com/pxee5ly Regards, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrgpots Posted July 15, 2013 Report Share Posted July 15, 2013 How does this compare to using paper clay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayjay Posted July 16, 2013 Report Share Posted July 16, 2013 the picture in the potterycrafts catalog shows something that looks like clay. The Potterycrafts catalogue/website is littered with similar examples: (e.g. take a look at the Amaco Potters Choice glazes, there's probably seven or eight that use the same pic). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldlady Posted July 18, 2013 Report Share Posted July 18, 2013 wow, everybody needs a proofreader. wish i could find a job doing that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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