Paradise8 Posted October 8, 2013 Report Share Posted October 8, 2013 I was taught in a school environment. The rule was do not mix different kinds of clay together.ok now later and on my own I have been throwing with all mid-range stoneware clay.Is it possible to reclaim this clay together? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biglou13 Posted October 8, 2013 Report Share Posted October 8, 2013 The group studio I work out of has a slop trash can trimmings, etc....... From some low fire, to porcelain,and everything I between goes in it. It gets reclaimed. And pugged. If is by far my favorite clay I've ever used. Ymmv. I think it will work. As always.... Test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JBaymore Posted October 8, 2013 Report Share Posted October 8, 2013 One of my ASSIGNMENTS in my college ceramics materials course is to do line blends with the multiple clays we stock. best, ....................john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nancy S. Posted October 8, 2013 Report Share Posted October 8, 2013 The studio that I use does the same thing with recombining all slop and pugging it. I surmise that as long as it's all combined thoroughly and it's all the same firing range, it's not an issue. Mixing half ^04-05 clay with half ^6 clay and then trying to fire it at ^6, for example, may not work very well at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humboldt Potter Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 We also make light recycled clay and dark recycled clay from many different kinds of clay at our studio. We add the slurry as well as the trimmings, to get the large and small clay particles into the reclaimed clay. Then we pug it. The mixtures contain many different Kinds of clays. The light reclaim has both stoneware and porcelains in it. Sometimes the clay is a little short, but for the most part, it's pretty good for throwing. No reason not to mix different clays as long as they mature at the same temperature. Ours are all cone 10 clays. I have to add that we have banned certain clays from our reclaimed clay, including Grogzilla, which has large stone like particles that are surprising if you're not expecting them and Frost, which doesn't play well with our other clays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JBaymore Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Grogzilla.... one of the "greats" along with Sheffield #42. best, .....................john PS: I add more rocks to Grogzilla . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pres Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Considering what I believe to be your aesthetic sense, I can believe that you add more rocks. . . . not meant as a put down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Many clay companies sell a version of a body called 'Half and Half', which is half porcelain, half stoneware. Wonderful stuff, no matter who makes it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Throws Pots Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 My studio sells 4 different Laguna bodies (90, 66, 55, 16). All throwing slop and trimming scraps get mixed into a fruit punch clay that we pug and use for camp/afterschool/drop-in programming. We also sell it for 75% of the cost of the fresh clay. Some pople love it. While we're on the topic, this recycled clay tends to be short... I don't know if this is the proper term. There's not much elasticity to the clay making it tear easily. Is there something I could add to the mix when pugging? Would aging the pugged clay help? The vacuum on our pugmill has been nonoperational since well before I started here almost 7 years ago. Would having vacuum suction help with the elasticity/structure of the clay, or would I just get rid of the air bubbles? Thanks, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JBaymore Posted October 10, 2013 Report Share Posted October 10, 2013 Many clay companies sell a version of a body called 'Half and Half', which is half porcelain, half stoneware. Wonderful stuff, no matter who makes it! In Japan that is called "hanjiki"... half porcelain. GREAT woodfire bodies. best, .....................john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paradise8 Posted October 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2013 Thank you everyone with the help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kohaku Posted October 14, 2013 Report Share Posted October 14, 2013 Paradise... the two issues that I'd be aware of are glaze chemistry (interactions with the clay body) and glaze fit. If your glazes are tested for fit to a specific clay body, and you switch to recycled (mixed) clay, the altered rates of thermal expansion/contraction in the recycled clay body may lead to problems like crazing, shivering, etc. Of course, if you're mixing clays with similar thermal expansion coefficients, this may not be an issue. Also- glazes can look very different on a hi-iron clay body than on a porcelin clay body. So- if you're using a recycled clay with altered chemistry, you may see a different look. These are probably the reasons your school tried to keep clays separate. For you, however, there's probably no practical reason to use your recycled clay as long as you're aware of these issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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