#6 Tile Clay with 5% Bentonite Slip

[Bruce Bowers]

Hi Folks,
Does anyone have any feedback on slip made from #6 tile clay and about 5% bentonite?
I use both Loafer's Glory and Standard #470 Wood Fire Clay and fire a noborigama with a light salt/soda chamber.
I have heard it works out well, but don't want to commit anything I really like until I get a few more opinions.
Thanks in advance,
Bruce

[Nate Willever]

On Some Clays it will crack off if too thick, but it gives nice yellows, golds and browns

[Bruce Bowers]

Thanks, Nate.

[June Perry - Shambhala Pottery]

I used it in my last firing on a couple of small pieces and it was dry and pasty white on one pot pand flashed nicely on others. Use it quite thin though or it will crack. It may also need a good amount of soda.
Here's a picture of one of pieces that flashed..


June Perry

[Bruce Bowers]

June,
Thanks very much for the photo and comment.
Hopefully, I don't have it on too thick. I just used it on about 15 pots, so hopefully, some will turn out.
It looks great on your bowl.
Bruce

[Michael Kline]

yea , we used to call it reptile 6 when it came out kinda dry.

One thing I like to do is after dipping the pot into the slip, wait a moment, until the wetness sets a little, then go in with a cheap hardware store brush and do a hakeme texture in the slip. If you let it dry too much you won't get a consistent effect, i.e. if the rim is dryer than the rest of the pot. It sometimes crackles nicely when you do this. Crackle depends on the clay body.

[bryce brisco]

I use this slip for fingerswiping, and have great results in salt/wood. if you look closely at the pictures of the 100 jugs you'll notice some with fingerswiped swirls and lines through this mixture. it tends to leave nice variation where thick and thin...good luck.b

[Bruce Bowers]

Thanks a lot, Bryce. I'll give it a try.

[Kyle Carpenter]

I use this slip on 95% of my pots. I use Highwater Clay's Zella Stone. I apply leather hard. Thicker application produces crackle. I tend to fire in oxidation to get it to look buttery, or butterlicious. Looks nice in reduction too, but can get too dark. I tend to stay away from that.
This slip needs salt. Firing with wood and without salt will produce a half good lookin' pot and a half concrete lookin' pot.
This slip likes salt more than soda. You may want to use a 85% Tile 6, 15% Nepsy 270, and 3% bentonite if using soda.
I fire propane salt with 4 lbs. of salt. You can see examples at http://carpenterpottery.com/Portfolio.htm
Good luck!