This video shows me finishing up throwing a cobalt blue cup, a.k.a a cobalt blue teabowl (it can be a cup or a small bowl). This is a slightly longer cut than what was posted on social media.
I’ve really enjoyed my colored clay experiments! I’ve decided to keep this and use it for awhile as an oatmeal bowl, just to see how the colored clay performs in the microwave. Creating the colored clay takes some effort, so I may decide to reserve it for decorative work. We will see how my new oatmeal bowl works out.
To create the colored clay, I use reclaimed cone 5 bmix - this is the white clay I use for all my electric fired cone 6 work. I save my scraps as I make, and when I have plenty I make sure it’s well watered down, and then mix it smooth. From that state it can be used as white slip (as used on this cup), or it can be allowed to firm up and become reclaim clay. If you are wondering ‘what’s slip’ watch the video - the white stuff I paint around the outside of this cup is white slip - just clay and wanter blended smoth.
For my colored slips, I simply blend a colorant (such as cobalt) into the white clay when it’s in it’s smooth slip stage. This provides me with the colored slips I use. To make colored clay, I have to take it a step further and allow the colored slip to firm up until it gets to the right consistency. It needs to rest for a good 3 weeks before using, and it does require quite alot of wedging (wedging is much like kneading bread dough, with the intention of removing air bubbles and aligning the clay particles - making sure the clay is a consistent in it’s dampness and softness). In the future I’ll try to do a more thorough post about this process.
When working with colored clays and slips, one of the trickiest things to navigate (for me) is how NOT to get colored clay mixed in with your white clays and slips!