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This item was made in India. Their pottery tradition expects that ware can be sun-dried immediately after it is made. To make that possible their clay bodies have low plasticity and lots of large particle sizes. They have learned to work with these and regard them as normal. However potters in the west would find bodies like this unusable (they are accustomed to taking lots of care in drying in exchange for having much more plasticity). However, if Indian potters let the fine plastic clay portion of the body recipe decline too much then this type of surface-cracking issue can occur.
| Glossary |
Plasticity
Plasticity (in ceramics) is a property exhibited by soft clay. Force exerted effects a change in shape and the clay exhibits no tendency to return to the old shape. Elasticity is the opposite. |
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