My experimental body

Hello All,

this is one of the test pots I made about 10 years or so ago. It's a specially prepared body, vitreous at cone 08 [ 983 deg.c] and can be very fast fired, from creation to popping into the kiln, and removal after 100 deg.c.

I can do it in any colour, by the way.

This would be the body I use for all of my pots as I need them.
It is plastic and very smooth and it uses local clays.

I don't like to waste energy, and I can create ash glazes etc for cone 08. So it's a low-fired stoneware psuedo or translucent porcelain psuedo.
Enjoy.
Khaimraj

A little small of leaf Fukien tea.

Hi KS,
Very interesting post. Always intrigued by what folks do by necessity or ingenuity.

Few question and comments, to learn form your experiments

this is one of the test pots I made about 10 years or so ago. It's a
specially prepared body, vitreous at cone 08 [ 983 deg.c] and can be
very fast fired, from creation to popping into the kiln, and removal
after 100 deg.c.

So this pot is 10 yo it is well vitrified because a low fired(earthenware)would not be in this kind of shape after this amount of time.

Q:Are you still testing or have you a recipe that is stable
Q:Do you mean you can make ware and move it quickly to the kiln (force dry) or fire quickly (fast ramp) or take fired items out of the kiln hot, all those or any of those?

I can do it in any color, by the way.

Q; Any color ? how, body stains, oxides

This would be the body I use for all of my pots as I need them.
It is plastic and very smooth and it uses local clays.

Q; What components are you adding to your found clay

I
don't like to waste energy, and I can create ash glazes etc for cone
08. So it's a low-fired stoneware psuedo or translucent porcelain
psuedo.
Enjoy

Q: so you have a source of kaolin in a local deposit that you can fire to 08 which is vitreous ? .This is quite extraordinary...

Would love to see more work.
I hope this is not too ceramic-geeky for you guys, Ive just never heard of such a wonderclay

Hello BigDave,

let me answer those questions of yours.

[1] The body is stable, the firing limit is orton cone 06, after that it will bloat, but I am using electric kilns. I still have to see what happens with my gas kiln.

[2] Yes, force dry and fast fire.

[3] I have access to a local off-white clay and the rest are reds to purples, all local. Yes, I can also use stains.

[4] The main body is our local clay, with the exception of the off-white which is closer to stoneware in firing maturation, the others are clays that mature around 1180 deg.c or so. High fired earthenware or sub stoneware as you wish.

The formulas are well known since the days of Richard Behrens, but you will have to source clays with similar properties.
Use these books -

[a ] Ceramic glaze making - Behrens

[b] Glaze projects - Behrens

[c] The potter's complete book of Clay and Glazes - Chappell

If you do a little reading in - The potter's dictionary - by the Hamers - page 241 - 3rd edition, you will find your low firing Kaolin information.

I hope you are not the typical Internet-er who does not like to read or read books, and looks for any and everything on an electrical screen.

Just look closely at images I have left over time here and see which pots use the body. I left one of my first slabs in an image recently, very simple, and even mentioned the hand made aspect ------------------ No one cared.
So I just returned to showing trees here and there.

I was trying to see of I could come close to the Yi-xing unglazed pot look, not quite there, but I can live with it.

I can't give you an exact recipe, simply because I refine and use only local clays, the blend is probably different on your side. This island is unusual, next to the Orinocco and a giant deposit of clays from the Venezuelan mountains, as well as sea deposits.
Let me know how it goes.
Later.
Khaimraj

p.s The little broken and glaze glued back pot in - My nephew's first pots - is the same body as is the New pine pot.