Ceramic Tips

I decided to share my tips with the world - or at least with those who read this blog.
Over my 2 years in studio I have learnt some useful tricks maybe you know them already :)

 1. Talc is super useful (I was using pure talc the one you add to glazes but I think you can try it with baby talc as well) :

•  slipcasting - brush the inside of your mould with a thin layer of talc and your casts will relise easily each time :) But  it can also develop a shiny glaze like surface when fired on porcelain ( I didn't try it on other clay bodies) so plan before you use it and make sure the bottom part of your work in talc free as it can stack to the kiln shelf;
• 'glazing'- if you want nice shiny finish on porcelain brush a layer of talc on green body - clay has to be a bit wet so talk can stick to it. It's just a matter of practice to find out the perfect stage of clay and amount of talc you need.

2. Single firing 
For over a year I was only single firing and nothing exploded! I don't understand what the deal is with the necessity of buisqing everything. If you are just planing to apply glaze and don't want any underglaze decoration just go for it! I got a ceramics handbook Single Firing, the pros and cons where the glaze recipes are altered a bit to better fit the greenware but to be honest I was just using glazes from my glazebook and they work perfectly each time - maybe I was lucky so far :)
The crucial part is the timing, I have noticed that when clay is bone dry while glazing it acts as bisque.
Glaze should be less watery for this type of application.

3. Underglaze decoration 
I was using a technique that would highlight the texture :
Apply black glaze on the textured bisque clay and then wipe it back with a sponge. The glaze will stay only in the groves. You can apply underglaze colours after allowing the piec to dry or you can just glaze it all over with transparent glaze. Now there is something cool: If you want to do the glazing quickly make sure your bisque is hot when putting the black glaze on- the water you will use for washing off the excess glaze will evaporate immediately and you can apply the transparent glaze straight away.
I was trying this technique just after taking my things out from bisque - they were still hot.

Also if you are using just stains mixed with water instead of black glaze they will be harder to wipe off.

4. Smoothing plaster/ clay
This is well known trick but just to remind you if you want to have super smooth plaster model polish it on a wet piece of frosty glass (the one with stone like texture).
Pur water on the glass then put your plaster model on the glass and do 'wax on, wax off' with it :)
Wet and dry sand paper is also very useful.

You can clean the edges, rims of your clay pieces using that technique as well.

5. Recycling your clay

I noticed that there are many ways people are recycling clay, here are my 2 favorite ones:

• If you have plenty of clay and time before you will need to recycle it get a massive bin with cover, put a bit of water into it and put your daily waste in there- make sure the water is covering the clay all the time. After few months you'll get a nice slurry and just dry it on plaster bat or clean concrete. I left my clay in a bucket for 3-4 months.
• If you don't have time and don't know when you will need to reuse the clay just store it in a bucket or a bag. Break the cutouts/scraps into small pieces and leave them to dry over night then put them into the bucket/old clay bag and next time you will need fresh clay just mix the dry one in hot water and then dry the slurry on the plaster bat. This is also a great way of getting clay ready for paperclay or fiberclay.

I think that's enough for today will post some more later.