Are you thinking of making a mug a bowl a plate or some other piece of pottery but
you're a little confused and wondering what type of clay you should be using? In today's video I'm
going to go over what I've learned from testing and trying out many different types of clay.
Let's go. Hi marie here with another informative video for you.
Choosing the right clay for your projects is one of the most important parts of pottery making.
Choose the wrong type, texture, or cone will be a setup for failure.
When choosing your clay body there are four basic things you will be looking for. The type of clay
body, earthenware, stoneware, or porcelain. The texture, smooth coarse, or somewhere in between.
What color do you want to achieve when fired? And the very important cone size. What temperature are
you going to fire to? Links for the clays are listed down below in the show notes for you.
We'll start with earthenware. This is a good clay body for wheel throwing, hand building,
and sculpting. It has good plasticity that means it's easy to work with and mold.
Which makes it a good clay for beginners. It comes with grog, fine grog,
or no grog at all. What is grog you ask? Grog is fired clay that's ground up into coarse,
medium, and fine particle sizes. Grog is good to use when sculpting or hand-building because
it helps the clay hold its shape better. It also reduces shrinking, Which in turn reduces cracking
and warping. When using grog for wheel throwing it is abrasive on your hands. You can try fine grog
or no grog at all. Earthenware has a broad range of colors to choose from. The colors
vary from brown, orange, red, white, and also black. This clay is basically a low fire clay.
Most earthenware is bisque fired at cone 04 which is 1945 degrees Fahrenheit or 1063 degrees celsius
and typically glaze fired at cone 06 which is 1828 degrees Fahrenheit or 998 degrees celsius.
This is a porous clay that's why earthenware tends to be thicker because it chips easier.
It also doesn't vitrify or become waterproof. It only becomes waterproof if it's covered
with a food-safe glaze. When using earthenware you have to be careful not to over fire it.
At best you will ruin your pottery. At worst you will ruin the kiln. That's why many potters
that mid to high fire their clay are afraid to fire someone else's clay in their kiln.
Especially beginners. If the mistake is made the earthenware clay starts to boil.
Like this. If you can see. That just started bubbling up
and if it's fired high enough the clay will start to melt right into the kiln bricks and
ruin the kiln. Clay body gets its name because of its Stone-like qualities the clays I have
here are amaco buff 46 and white 38. There are other brands but Amaco is one of my favorites.
This type of clay body is also plastic which makes it easy to work with and a good clay to grow with.
Stoneware is a nice clay body for hand-building and throwing on the wheel you can get it with
or without grog fine or coarse and make anything from small cups,
to teapots,
to large bowls.
Their color range is similar to earthenware with white, buff, brown, red, even black.
You can also add mason stains to color your clay. You can use mason stains on any clay body
but white clays fired above cone five give you a more vibrant color like this.
I have a video on how to make colored clay. I left a link for you in the description below.
Stoneware has two firing temperatures, mid-range which is typically cone five,
and six which is 2167 degrees to 2232 degrees Fahrenheit or 1186 degrees and 1222 degrees
celsius, and high fire which is mainly cone 10 2 345 degrees Fahrenheit or 1285 degrees
celsius this is good because you're less likely to over fire these clays it is more durable and
chip-resistant than earthenware which makes it more popular in its use for dinnerware and mugs.
It is a lower quality clay than porcelain but more popular because of its durability
porcelain is known to be the most regal of all clay body types.
True porcelain feels smooth as butter and less forgiving than other clays.
It also absorbs water rather quickly which makes big changes in its workability rather quickly
this clay is mainly used in wheel throwing and for slip moles. Porcelain's color ranges
mainly from off-white to white you can also add colorants like mason stains.
Porcelain also has two firing temperatures mid-fire range which is typically cone 5 to cone 6
which is 2167 degrees to 2232 degrees Fahrenheit or 1186 degrees to 1220 degrees celsius
and high fire which is mainly cone 10 2345 degrees Fahrenheit or 1285 degrees celsius
i have thrown with cone 5 6 porcelains these are not true porcelains but I still found
them to be nice clays to throw with. This is a standard ceramic 213 porcelain clay.
A beginner can use porcelain clay like this. But I would suggest smaller items first,
porcelain is not as durable as stoneware but still popular especially with making tableware vases
and other decorative objects. After going through the three types of clay bodies stoneware is a good
clay to choose from it molds very well and is more durable making it perfect for the beginner potter.
As a beginner potter you will go through a lot of clay.You
don't want to waste that good clay so it's best to recycle your mistakes
check out my How-to recycle bone dry clay video I left a link for you in the description below.
This is very important to remember when buying your clay. Look at the description.
It should indicate what cone size, type of clay you're buying, and the color should
all show on the label. The clays I use are listed for you in the show notes below. Also,
check out my Best Clays and how to choose clay for pottery. Also below in the show notes for you,
I hope I've helped you in selecting the clay that's right for you
please give me a thumbs up if you want to see more videos in the future. Make sure you subscribe
and hit the bell notification that way you'll be notified anytime new content like this comes out.
I build my list of videos to create based on feedback from viewers like you you watching
helps me to create more videos like this one. Now head on over to my how to make a bowl video
or how to wedge clay video. If you do, I get to play with more clay. Let's stay
dirty.