Pottery Clay - Potclays 1150 - My Lady With Fish Statue Update

by Heather Coleman http://www.dawnmist.demon.co.uk/fluff.htm
(Devon Uk)

Pottery Clay - Potclays 1150 - Drying Update. Just a quick update on my statue. As you may recall the plasticity of the pottery clay (1150) I used for her and the fact I did not hollow out the body meant that she has been sitting in my kiln now for over 2 weeks slowly drying and although one large split formed across her waist I was able to burnish over this and none of the other splits appear to have grown.

So I would imagine in about a week or so from now she should be dry enough to begin a gradual warming process of say 30 deg C to begin and then ramp up to 120 deg C after a few more days.
We managed to slow down the drying process by having her sit in the empty kiln with all the bungs in and the lid shut and several dishes of water placed around to keep it slightly humid.

Heather

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Reply from Peter (Admin)

Heather - We all really appreciate your ongoing feedback on your fabulous pottery clay project. It is a great education for us to see it unfold. Seems like the slow drying combined with hollowing might be the answer to the trickiness of the ball clay content of 1150 when drying. Let's see how the firing goes when its ready. Keep us all in touch. Thanks Heather!