URL: The L3954B engobe page at PlainsmanClays.com explains how to mix and use it on Plainsman clays bodies at cone 6.

Click the link below to go to this page

https://plainsmanclays.com/l3954b

Related Information

Absolutely Jet-Black Cone 6 Engobe on M340

This could also be super white

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This is the L3954B engobe. 15% Mason 6600 black body stain has been added (instead of the normal 10% Zircopax used for white). Of course, a cover glaze is needed for a functional surface. A lot of development work went into producing a recipe that fits this body, M340. It works even when thickly applied because it has the same fired maturity as the body. Lots of information is available on using L3954B (including mixing and adjustment instructions). Engobes are tricky to use. Follow the links below to learn more. L3954B is designed to work on regular Plainsman M340 (this piece), M390 and Coffee Clay. Most importantly, adjusting its maturity, and thus reducing firing shrinkage, is documented. These bodies dry better than porcelains and are much less expensive, so coating them with an engobe to get a surface like this makes a lot of sense. Ed Phillipson discovered this 80 years ago, enabling selling pieces made from these clays as white hotelware.

A cone 6 black-burning stoneware with a porcelain surface. How?

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Black-burning bodies are popular with many potters. This one is stained by adding 10% raw umber to a buff-burning stoneware. Umbers are powerful natural clay colorants, they have high iron and also contain some manganese oxide. Could a white engobe produce a porcelain-like surface on such a clay body? Yes. L3954B engobe was applied during leather-hard stage to this Plainsman Coffee Clay mug (on the inside and partway down the outside). After bisque, transparent G2926B glaze was applied inside and GA6-B outside. Notice the GA6-B over the engobe fires amber but over the black it produces a deep glossy brown. The engobe was mixed into a thixotropic slurry, as explained on the page at PlainsmanClays.com (see link below), and applied in a relatively thin layer. This porcelain-like result is a testament to the covering power of a true engobe. It is no wonder they are so popular in the ceramic tile industry - a red-burning body can be turned white as a porcelain, which enables all the marvellous glazing and decorating they can do.

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