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We are currently getting about 20 loads of M2 from our Montana quarry. This clay is what makes it possible for us to make clay bodies like M390 and M350. This super-long trailer has a conveyor belt on the bottom, driven by a powerful hydraulic motor - it conveys the material out of the back. The tub empties clean and enables dumping the clay at a controlled pace. These are much safer than the tandem dumps we have used in the past.
We get this clay from St. Rose, Manitoba. Four tandem loads arrived this week. Just seeing the pile inspires me to make more pieces! It is a red fireclay and it is highly unusual. St. Rose Red has issues. They at first seem to be problems, but in combination they give it magic powers! It fires with very heavy iron speckling. The iron pigmentation is so high that it burns almost black at cone 10R. It has low plasticity. It shivers glazes: The vase on this picture lasted an hour after kiln exit, it spontaneously fractured because of the outward pressure from the under-compression glaze on the inside. But, by combining St. Rose Red with our more vitreous clays, which are highly plastic, we can make H440 and H443. A mix of only 45 St. Rose with 40 Ball clay and 15 feldspar produces a rustic metallic surface (like the cup shown). Such a body cannot be made from a low fire red clay (like RedArt), it would just warp and collapse in the kiln. It is the refractory character, heavy pigmentation, iron speckling and low plasticity of St. Rose that make metallic ware possible.
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