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This brushing engobe is thick and gooey (because it contains CMC gum), so it is practically impossible to sieve. While our propeller mixer was not able to break up the tiny agglomerates of New Zealand kaolin 30 seconds of bender mixing made it as smooth as silk. To make this liter of brushing engobe we use 800g of powder and 10g of CMC gum in 800g of water. It does not require Veegum (like glazes) because it already contains plenty of clay. The CMC gum greatly improves the brushing properties so additions of stain make it useful for colored underglazes also. For best performance we apply them to leather hard ware.
These lumps do not break down easily in a dry mixer, even when with other materials (like silica and feldspar). And they just bounce around on a vibrating screen. That means that without some sort of finishing device in the dry material feed stream is needed to break down these lumps before the pugmill.
Glossary |
Blender Mixing
An ordinary kitchen blender does a better job of mixing a ceramic slurry than any industrial machine. It even reduces clay particle size and hyper ages it. |
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Glossary |
Engobe
Engobes are high-clay slurries that are applied to leather hard or dry ceramics and fire opaque. They are used for functional or decorative purposes. |
Glossary |
Agglomeration
The fine mineral, oxide and clay particles used in ceramics often aglommerate during storage or even in the latter stages of production. These must be broken down later. |
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