Material Science, taught by David Katz, focus on exploring the ceramic idea, method, and expression in ceramic art from the technical perspective. Raw materials, clay bodies, glazes and glaze calculation are studied.
Clay Body Testing
The clay body experiments started with testing one kind of purchased clay, Red Art in this case. Three clay body test tiles were made and fired at Cone 04, Cone 6 and Cone 10. shrinkage and water absorption were measured for each of those three tiles.
Then, a clay body was developed with the criteria in terms of color, texture, firing temp, forming process. Finally, a fine-tuned clay body recipe was used for making tiles to continue the glaze testing.
Red Art (Earthenware)
Shrinkage: Cone 04: 5%, Cone 6: 11%, Cone 10: 11%
Water Absorption: Cone 04: 13.5%, Cone 6: 0.6%, Cone 10: 0.5%
G02
Ball Clay OM4: 0.30
Kaolin Pioneer: 0.20
Barnard: 0.20
Quartz: 0.05
Grog (Coarse): 0.25
Shrinkage: Cone 04: 5%, Cone 6: 11%, Cone 10: 11%
Water Absorption: Cone 04: 13.5%, Cone 6: 0.6%, Cone 10: 0.5%
G01
Ball Clay OM4: 0.40
Kaolin Pioneer: 0.10
Barnard: 0.10
Quartz: 0.15
Grog (Coarse): 0.15
Grog (fine): 0.10
Shrinkage: Cone 04: 5%, Cone 6: 11%, Cone 10: 11%
Water Absorption: Cone 04: 13.5%, Cone 6: 0.6%, Cone 10: 0.5%
G01A
Ball Clay OM4: 0.35
Kaolin Pioneer: 0.10
Red Art: 0.15
Quartz: 0.15
Grog (Coarse): 0.10
Grog (fine): 0.15
Talc: 0.03
Shrinkage: Cone 04: 5%, Cone 6: 11%, Cone 10: 11%
Water Absorption: Cone 04: 13.5%, Cone 6: 0.6%, Cone 10: 0.5%
G02A
Ball Clay OM4: 0.24
Kaolin Pioneer: 0.16
Barnard: 0.12
Quartz: 0.12
Grog (Coarse): 0.20
Grog (fine): 0.12
Talc: 0.016
Bentonite: 0.024
Shrinkage: Cone 04: 5%, Cone 6: 11%, Cone 10: 11%
Water Absorption: Cone 04: 13.5%, Cone 6: 0.6%, Cone 10: 0.5%
Gaze Testing
#21 was chosen, because of the spotty pattern on the surface. Seven different kinds of coloring oxides were added to the #21 base glaze to create 27 different color glaze.
