The way I did this 40 years ago was I mixed porcelain in a blender with cobalt and water, then poured that thick slip out on a slab of porcelain and let it air dry. Then I cut up the slab into pieces and stacked them, crushed the stack into a slab, cut that up and stacked it, and then wedged it. Nobody else was throwing marbleized clay back then...or at least there weren't any You Tube videos about it. I also used rutile for a yellowish color, chromium and copper for green, and iron for a dark brown.
That's awesome, Kevin! I've used the copper several times personally... but with my students, I just am trying to avoid some of those chemicals... and sticking with the Mason Stains which seem a bit safer. I've always wanted to do some slab work with stained clay, but just have never had time to get around to it! Great tips, thank you! :)
I am now going through my entire scrap bag to retrieve all of my large unsuccessful pieces! What a great idea to add it to your slip. Girl! You are a wealth of knowledge thank you for your expertise :-) . I wasn't quite sure how much Mason stain to add to my clay, now I see why I need to add more.
Awwww! Thanks, Christina! I'm glad you find it helpful! :) I have a few more videos I'll be finishing in the next few weeks to show how I throw and trim the marbled pieces! :) Keep your eyes open for them! :)
I have to admit I was expecting your hands to look like a Smurf and your work surface to be badly stained too! Your method with the bag and dry clay pieces is brilliant!
Just caught ur video and got nostalgic when I saw your were a ceramics teacher for MHS...although the MHS I know is in Central coast CA. I loved my ceramics teacher-she was such an inspiration to me, thus the nostalgia.
I’m starting ceramics this Monday, and I’m really excited to prep my brain with all these techniques. Ideas, on top of ideas, on top of knowledge... Learning has become a hobby of mine. Thank you for making these videos! I’m sure I’ll watch them more than once.❤️
guys those things it's really dangerous u should make sure and wearing a mask when add the color , thanks the color turned so beautiful , greetings from saudi arabia .
Thank you for doing this series of videos with the mixed stained marbled Clay. I had requested you to do this in one of your previous videos with the marbled saltshaker video. I wish I had you close by to take lessons from. I am a beginner just starting out and I'm not really able to take lessons at a clay studio because it's a little expensive for me right now so I watch a lot of videos. I have the basics of what I need but I don't have a place to plug in the kiln that I have because I live in an apartment complex. I have been trying to figure out a way or a place to fire anything I make. I have thought of other studios but they charge too much money and I even thought of offering someone else who doesn't own their own Kiln, but would like to use mine and arrange to get an outlet and hook it up at their place. I haven't had any luck.
You're welcome, Kathy! Yes, I had already started filming some of them when we messaged earlier about the shakers! ;) Trying to find a place to fire is always an adventure. You could put some inquiries out with local potters too, to see if they'd like to earn a bit of extra money for firing pieces! I know some people that fire at studio spaces, and they charge for the square inch of shelf space... and they are super-strategic for the loading of the kilns to fit in as much as they possibly can... making baby pieces to fill in gaps between others! That's amazing that you have a kiln already! My first one was in a shed in my backyard... had to run electric to it... and it was mighty cold in the winter! Good luck to you! :)
I also had a question and was wondering if u could do a video about how to deal with and wash any clothes and towels from working in your home studio that get muddy from throwing and everything
Thank you for this great tutorial. You explain everything so thoroughly and I really appreciate that. I've recently learned how to work with colored clays and absolutely love it. Are you concerned with wedging and touching the stain with your bare hands? I'm not judging, just really curious about your perspective on that. I was taught to use gloves but it makes the process very clumsy if the gloves don't fit well. I can incorporate it much better with bare hands but wonder about the absorption of the fine pigment through the skin and it's long term effects. Thank you!
It is a great question about touching the stained clay with bare hands. No, I don't worry as my impression of the Mason Stains is that they are a bit more stable, without the more dangerous compounds of straight colorants like chromium oxide, cobalt carbonate, etc. (With those, I do like to wear gloves) Admittedly, I really do need to read up more on them, but my gut has me feeling that there is much less risk. They are the primary colorant in underglazes, and I feel comfortable using those with young kids... I rather liken it to getting underglaze on my hands...(?) One good idea- which I didn't know about it at the time of the video- is to use a shielding lotion prior to working with the clay- I like Gloves in a Bottle... it helps to prevent your skin from absorbing stuff- without the interference or bulk of gloves!
Yes I agree that it seems safer than working directly with oxides. Thank you for the response. Gloves in a Bottle is a great recommendation. Thank you!
I'm using a white grogged earthenware body for my work, I'm concerned the grogg won't make it through the sieve. How much of a problem have you found the specks to be? I want to use a black stain on the clay so I'm wondering if you think it'll be massively noticeable?
Hi Sandy- no- sifters are just too big. The particulates I was breaking up are much smaller! There are wonderful test sieves that are not expensive, and could do the job. (Talisman sieves makes great little test sieves... that's what I used.) Now, you could try it without, but I have done it in the past, and have found I do have intense particles within the clay body that clearly just didn't get well mixed in. Maybe if you had an old blender, magic bullet or something like that it may mix it in better? (I didn't have one at home!) I do use a blender in my school studio, but I sieve it too! :)
The way I did this 40 years ago was I mixed porcelain in a blender with cobalt and water, then poured that thick slip out on a slab of porcelain and let it air dry. Then I cut up the slab into pieces and stacked them, crushed the stack into a slab, cut that up and stacked it, and then wedged it. Nobody else was throwing marbleized clay back then...or at least there weren't any You Tube videos about it. I also used rutile for a yellowish color, chromium and copper for green, and iron for a dark brown.
That's awesome, Kevin! I've used the copper several times personally... but with my students, I just am trying to avoid some of those chemicals... and sticking with the Mason Stains which seem a bit safer. I've always wanted to do some slab work with stained clay, but just have never had time to get around to it! Great tips, thank you! :)
I am now going through my entire scrap bag to retrieve all of my large unsuccessful pieces! What a great idea to add it to your slip. Girl! You are a wealth of knowledge thank you for your expertise :-) . I wasn't quite sure how much Mason stain to add to my clay, now I see why I need to add more.
Awwww! Thanks, Christina! I'm glad you find it helpful! :) I have a few more videos I'll be finishing in the next few weeks to show how I throw and trim the marbled pieces! :) Keep your eyes open for them! :)
This is perfect, exactly the info I was looking for!!! I'm so happy! 💝‼
I have to admit I was expecting your hands to look like a Smurf and your work surface to be badly stained too! Your method with the bag and dry clay pieces is brilliant!
Just caught ur video and got nostalgic when I saw your were a ceramics teacher for MHS...although the MHS I know is in Central coast CA. I loved my ceramics teacher-she was such an inspiration to me, thus the nostalgia.
I’m starting ceramics this Monday, and I’m really excited to prep my brain with all these techniques. Ideas, on top of ideas, on top of knowledge... Learning has become a hobby of mine. Thank you for making these videos! I’m sure I’ll watch them more than once.❤️
guys those things it's really dangerous u should make sure and wearing a mask when add the color , thanks the color turned so beautiful , greetings from saudi arabia .
Yep- that's why I explain wearing a respirator in the first two minutes of the video, and I have it in the video description! :)
Wow. I want to try this! Love the color too.
At 4:00 if you pick whole container and seave up and tap it lightly back down most would go right through that screen!
Mike- yes, that works often! Sometimes my slip is too thick for that trick to work! :)
Thank you for doing this series of videos with the mixed stained marbled Clay. I had requested you to do this in one of your previous videos with the marbled saltshaker video. I wish I had you close by to take lessons from. I am a beginner just starting out and I'm not really able to take lessons at a clay studio because it's a little expensive for me right now so I watch a lot of videos. I have the basics of what I need but I don't have a place to plug in the kiln that I have because I live in an apartment complex. I have been trying to figure out a way or a place to fire anything I make. I have thought of other studios but they charge too much money and I even thought of offering someone else who doesn't own their own Kiln, but would like to use mine and arrange to get an outlet and hook it up at their place. I haven't had any luck.
You're welcome, Kathy! Yes, I had already started filming some of them when we messaged earlier about the shakers! ;) Trying to find a place to fire is always an adventure. You could put some inquiries out with local potters too, to see if they'd like to earn a bit of extra money for firing pieces! I know some people that fire at studio spaces, and they charge for the square inch of shelf space... and they are super-strategic for the loading of the kilns to fit in as much as they possibly can... making baby pieces to fill in gaps between others! That's amazing that you have a kiln already! My first one was in a shed in my backyard... had to run electric to it... and it was mighty cold in the winter! Good luck to you! :)
I also had a question and was wondering if u could do a video about how to deal with and wash any clothes and towels from working in your home studio that get muddy from throwing and everything
Thank you for this great tutorial. You explain everything so thoroughly and I really appreciate that. I've recently learned how to work with colored clays and absolutely love it. Are you concerned with wedging and touching the stain with your bare hands? I'm not judging, just really curious about your perspective on that. I was taught to use gloves but it makes the process very clumsy if the gloves don't fit well. I can incorporate it much better with bare hands but wonder about the absorption of the fine pigment through the skin and it's long term effects. Thank you!
It is a great question about touching the stained clay with bare hands. No, I don't worry as my impression of the Mason Stains is that they are a bit more stable, without the more dangerous compounds of straight colorants like chromium oxide, cobalt carbonate, etc. (With those, I do like to wear gloves) Admittedly, I really do need to read up more on them, but my gut has me feeling that there is much less risk. They are the primary colorant in underglazes, and I feel comfortable using those with young kids... I rather liken it to getting underglaze on my hands...(?) One good idea- which I didn't know about it at the time of the video- is to use a shielding lotion prior to working with the clay- I like Gloves in a Bottle... it helps to prevent your skin from absorbing stuff- without the interference or bulk of gloves!
Yes I agree that it seems safer than working directly with oxides. Thank you for the response. Gloves in a Bottle is a great recommendation. Thank you!
does the stained part of the clay stick to the kiln shelf when firing it ?? thank you
Thank you so much for this video... it will surely help me..😍😍
You're welcome! :)
I'm using a white grogged earthenware body for my work, I'm concerned the grogg won't make it through the sieve. How much of a problem have you found the specks to be? I want to use a black stain on the clay so I'm wondering if you think it'll be massively noticeable?
Hi Nathan- mine is grogged as well- and I don't find them to be a problem! :)
Fantastic! Thank you :)
Hi, Karan! Do you know if using a mason stain like yours (not a body stain), would work with porcelain?
I’ve used them with cone 6 porcelain in the past without issue! I always recommend testing first before embarking on a big project!
Can you use this clay combo for slab building?
Another fabulous video👍🤗. Are you going to make another video how to throw the stain clay?
Yep! I have several in progress! A bowl video, a few cup videos, and a pitcher video! :)
Oh thank you for this video!!!
Hi. Do you think it would be ok to use one of those old-fashioned sifters (for baking) to get the lumps out?
Hi Sandy- no- sifters are just too big. The particulates I was breaking up are much smaller! There are wonderful test sieves that are not expensive, and could do the job. (Talisman sieves makes great little test sieves... that's what I used.) Now, you could try it without, but I have done it in the past, and have found I do have intense particles within the clay body that clearly just didn't get well mixed in. Maybe if you had an old blender, magic bullet or something like that it may mix it in better? (I didn't have one at home!) I do use a blender in my school studio, but I sieve it too! :)
Where can you buy mason stains that aren’t expensive?
Do you need to wear the respirator when you are throwing the marbled clay?
No! Only when dealing with the pigment in the dry power form before adding to the clay! :)
Note to self: less than 10 wedges when mixing stained and unstained clay
I agree. Karan gave us a big tip there. I guess fussing w/ a few bubbles is a small price to pay for beautiful marbling.
Does it stain your hands?
No! I’ve actually never had that issue! It just stains the canvas table!
Can I use mason stains with stoneware too?
Yes- I used white stoneware in that video
Thank you!!!
I want mason stains!
1/4 ratio
Do you mean I use a colored ball which is 1/4 the size of the larger ball?