I'll be talking about clay. About understanding it based on simple physical tests that anyone can do.

USG specialty plaster is entering a final-inventory phase in the ceramic supply chain, and rationing has begun at some suppliers even though the Southard plant does not close until November.

Left: OptiKast, a coarse-particle kaolin intended for slip-casting. Right: Plainsman A2 ball clay. These DFAC test (drying performance) disks were dried with their centers covered, deliberately creating uneven drying. The exposed perimeter dries and stiffens first; the covered center dries and shrinks later. The resulting cracks reveal how each clay responds to that stress. OptiKast feels smoother, yet its individual clay particles are much coarser than those typical of ball clay. This kaolin has low drying shrinkage, so its disk remained intact. The ball clay shrinks more. As its center dried and tried to contract against the already stiff perimeter, stresses developed, splitting the disk and opening numerous cracks around the edge.

So why use ball clay? This particular kaolin has so little plasticity that even making this disk was difficult. And the dried disk is fragile. Yet it is very useful in casting bodies, where plasticity impedes permeability. Ball clays are highly plastic; high drying shrinkage comes with that. Adding some of this to poor-plasticity casting or forming bodies that can tolerate a darker fired color can transform them into ones that both form well and dry harder and stronger.

This two-inch stack of clay body and glaze mix tickets represents only about half of my testing over the past year. Along the way, I also added thousands of photos to my Insight-live.com account. Looking at this pile, I realized why I am testing more: Organized records make it easier to keep multiple projects moving. I can see what I have tried, compare results and pick up where I left off. Each test builds on earlier work, and that visible progress motivates me to keep going. If you want to do DIY glazes and bodies, this is the secret is good record-keeping.

The underglaze is the 20x5 cone 6 base transparent glaze (G1214M with 5% Mason 6666 black stain). Overglaze left: GR6-H Ravenscrag Oatmeal. Overglaze right: GA6-F Alberta Slip oatmeal. Both produce a pleasant silky matte texture. Double layering using typical dipping glazes is prone to crawling (because of shrinking and cracking during drying). By keeping layers fairly thin, it is possible to achieve success, but with glazes high in clay content (as these are), more is needed. A mix of raw and roasted Alberta and Ravenscrag Slips is the answer here. Start with a 50:50 ratio and adjust to establish a balance between drying hardness and drying shrinkage. For more assurance in production situations, mix the underlayer black as a base-coat dipping glaze.

There are enough variables that a record-keeping system is needed. Start now, and you won't regret it.

Watch the G1214Z video to see me convert the G1214M 20x5 cone 6 clear base into G1214Z cone 6 calcia matte using simple glaze chemistry and recipe logic. This first appeared in the Digitalfire desktop Insight instruction manual 30 years ago. It is an understatement to say that this process is interesting if you want to know more about glazes, their chemistry and recipe logic. Watch this video and see me adjust the recipe of my high-calcium transparent cone 6 glaze to convert it into a calcia matte. In an Insight-live.com account, the process is easy enough for anyone. We'll cut the Si:Al ratio, increase the CaO, maintain the thermal expansion for glaze fit and make the recipe shrinkage-adjustable using a mix of calcined kaolin and raw kaolin. We will even compare it with the High Calcium Semimatte from Mastering Glazes.

While some sectors of modern ceramic manufacturing are highly automated, crockery and holloware production relies heavily on skilled workers who execute the same fundamentals as studio potters. And they use equipment a studio potter can make. But the speed and cooperation at which they work is astonishing. Consider:

-Foam and sponge belts: To finish unfired surfaces and wipe glaze from feet.
-Spinning sponge tables for rim and edge dry finishing.
-Rheology Control: Glaze slurry rheology (specific gravity, thixotropy, fluidity) is adapted to each situation. Workers dip, spin, and extract pieces in seconds without runs, drips, or extended drying pauses.
-Custom Tooling: Instead of standard shop tongs or studio brushes, workers use single-point holding tools, custom wire dipping tongs, and painting and stamping sponges.
-Traditional Jiggering: Workers turn large masses of soft clay into cups and bowls in seconds, or they feed stiff clay into semi-automatic machines.
-Handle Preparation: Workers use custom plaster holders and specialized blade cutters to shear slip-cast handles to match vessel contours.
-Fountain & Dip Glazing: Workers glaze interiors and rims simultaneously.
-Direct Screen Printing: Workers drape a silk screen directly around pieces and scrape ink through via a hand rubber scraper.

Tap/click the typecode link below for the videos.

To get a better, more brilliant transparency than G1947U, at cone 10R, I tried sourcing Na2O from a frit. The inside surface on this mug is the result (v2), it is so glossy it looks like a low-fire leaded glaze. This screenshot of side-by-side panels shows the frit-enhanced version(s), G3910 and G3910A. Frit 3110 has a much higher concentration of KNaO than the feldspar, a key to making a brilliant glass. While this increases the COE, the fact that it comes from this frit brings multiple benefits:

-A brings a little B2O3, a better melter than zinc (which volatilizes anyway at cone 10).
-It dissolves more low-expansion glass-forming SiO2 (in v2 I switched to 400 mesh silica to enhance that even more).
-The glaze can then tolerate some low-expansion MgO (introduced by Frit 3249 or its equivalent, Fusion Frit F-69).

More details about this project can be found by clicking/tapping the Insight-live recipe code numbers G1947U, G3910 or G3910A. The red outside glaze is G2571D1.

These tiles were fired at cone 6. The melt-flow comparison behind them shows how much more freely the G3808A clear base flows than G2926B. G2926B produces a crystal-clear glass by itself and works well with some colorants. But with 2% added copper carbonate, its melt does not clear the bubbles and heal the surface completely. G3808A has enough melt mobility to produce a smooth surface.

That extra fluidity comes at a price: Notice the glaze running down the right-hand tile. To get this clear, glossy copper color while controlling movement, strategies include thinner application, keeping the glaze farther above the foot, restricting it to more horizontal surfaces or using a tested catcher glaze below it.

She is likely getting it from nearby. She knows what works: A mix of sand, clay and organic matter. She isn't even the best mud-nester in the bird world. Some species can stick their nests on to walls and cliffs.

If a bird can find and use a native clay, should a potter or even hobbyist be intimidated by the prospect of doing the same? She doesn't overthink it; she likely just samples different spots and uses the one that works the best. The clay appears to be a typical terracotta; if her nest were fired, it could well come out like these overlaid SHAB test bars (the two types, a sandy and smooth, were fired at cone 4 and 04).

Finding a native clay for pottery can begin just as simply: collect small samples from different spots, see how each one works, and watch how it dries. Then take the step the bird has no reason to take—fire test bars. These show how I compare drying shrinkage, firing shrinkage and fired absorption. A nest proves that mud can be built with. Test bars help determine what that mud can become in a kiln.