Making Slip For Ceramics

I save all of my little scraps of clay put them in a gallon size plastic bag and when i have enough clay i make slip.

Making slip for ceramics.

The basics of making slip for clay involves breaking pieces of bone dry clay into small parts. Make a batch of slip out of the same clay body and add a small percentage of stain say 2. The mold is opened and the clay object is removed. Make sure your slip is made from the same clay you re working with.

I never use bone dry clay. Plastic containers with screw on lids that come in packs of 2 from the dollar tree. Paint a strip of this slip mixture onto the tile and write on the tile that this is a 2 mixture. Every once in a while i spray water in the plastic bag so the clay doesn t get dry.

You can use an underglaze pencil to write the 2 or scratch it into the leather hard clay. Lana wilson uses texture and clay slip to decorate much of her work. I always use wet clay to make slip. The slip is poured into the mold and the water is absorbed leaving a layer of clay deposited from the slip.

The gravity ratio is measured by the hydrometer and it tells you the amount of water in relationship to the amount of. The dissolved clay is then blended into the water to make a smooth suspension. First some basic information about making your slip. It may be either solid cast where the form is filled with the new clay object or hollow cast where the new object is deposited around a hollow center from which the remaining slip.

And it should have a gravity ratio of 1 75 to achieve this you should have a hydrometer and a scale. Let it slake for 24 hours then mix it by hand a little with a stick figure 2. A gallon of good ceramic slip should weigh 14 5 pounds plus a smidge. The process of slaking clay to make it into slip is a simple one.

With a screw on lid you can get a tighter seal than you can with snap on lids which means your slip will still be usable the next time you need to use it. For storing slip i like the 16 oz. Then submerging the dry clay in water so that it breaks down and dissolves. Once you ve mixed the slip for about 5 minutes use a.