Clay Chat #3 Q&A session

 Clay Chat #3 28 November 

Some members of the CAQ board presented an informal Q&A session at the Butter Factory Arts Centre on the closing day of the Siliceous Award for Ceramic Excellence. This was attended by a few local pottery enthusiasts who had some great pottery questions for the board as well as some questions that were emailed in beforehand. 

 Q: What suggestions do you have for packaging ceramics?

• Ideally, suspend the pieces within the box
• Create a firm bubble of packaging (be it bubble wrap, paper, corrugated paper etc) around the piece so it is not in contact with the box
• Consider insuring the piece to ship it
• If you can’t drop kick the box – repack it!

Q: Are there glazes to use that will not leave cutlery marks?

• It is in fact the metal from the cutlery leaving the marks not the glaze being scratched
• You can use something like Jiff to remove the marks
• Using a dense clay and a smooth glaze will reduce the amount of cutlery marks
• Having a good clay/glaze fit is beneficial
• Liquid Quartz product may reduce marking as it fills the spaces with nano particles

Q: What advice do you have to reduce your environmental footprint?

• There are many small ways you can reduce your impact on the environment such as: recycling your clay, water, clay bags
• Only fire your kiln when it’s full
• Research your options, there are many potters who have written work on this topic such as Steve Harrison and Dr Wendy Gers and you can do a search on the Facebook Australian Ceramics Forum Group, Ayumi Horie is a US potter who throws without water
• research carbon offsets
• If you have the option, use solar power to fire your kiln
• Consider installing a clay trap for your studio sink
• Consider firing to mid fire temperatures instead of high fire to reduce the consumption of gas or electricity

Q: How can you change the colour of your clay?

• Add oxides
• Add body stains
• Add dark clay to white clay

These suggestions were offered with many other considerations:

• Some oxides act as a flux and will alter both the colour and the maturing temperature of the clay
• To obtain a black clay body often requires more than one oxide (like manganese, iron, cobalt)
• Up to 25% earthenware can be added to stoneware and taken to SW temperatures
• Body stains do not act as fluxes as they contain fritted materials and are neutral
• All of these suggestions need to be thoroughly tested and recorded to ensure consistency

For further enquiries, email: info@ceramicartsqld.org.au