paper-clay?

[Nothing will do that. Paperclay will adhere to itself pretty well, but only before it's fired. Unlike with regular clay, you can join two bone-dry pieces successfully, but whoever told you you could add clay to already-bisqued pieces was misinformed, or misunderstood.] [It sounds like the recipe's okay, but it's still just clay; it won't perform miracles...]

Andrew Werby

Andrew, There are a lot of citations where paperclay has, in fact, been successfully added to bisqued ware and refired. Weird stuff, I guess, but how it works is somebody else's guess.

Philip

My teacher (VERY experienced, especially in repairing ceramics) told me it should work, but it isn't working for me.

Nono - that was ME asking if it were possible - on small flaws that I don't want to sand down before glazing.

Marianne

Does anyone have a good reference book for paperclay? Thanks!

[Sorry, I remain skeptical. Has it worked for you? Why doesn't it work for "Bubbles"? You can find citations on the web for all kinds of wacky stuff; that doesn't mean it's all true. The only way I can envision it working is if it included some fusible material, like a glaze, that would actually glue it on at high temps. The paper itself isn't going to be a factor after 415 F; past that, it's just a piece of clay in contact with, but not attached to, the original piece. If there's keying, so the piece is locked on, and it doesn't crack off, I guess it might remain that way, but I have a hard time believing it's a solid join.]

Andrew

i think it works because there is limited shrinkage, and you get a mechanical *stiction* between the part & new paperclay.

see ya

steve

For minor S cracks in the bottom of bowls I have successfully repaired the crack using a mix of clay and glaze. It does not repair the bottom side of the piece but works fine on the inside of the piece. For a student that was very taken with her piece, we took a thin piece of clay shaped as a star, covered it with glaze and put it like a bandaide over the crack. It did a perfectly find job of a cosmetic fix to a very pretty piece with a lovely glaze. I can see paper clay working in this manner. More of a cosmetic fix than a stuctural one.

That reflects my experience exactly, Andrew. Wish you had an answer to your question! ;-)

Marianne

The two pieces I have tried it on, it didn't help. One was a kitchen utensil-holder that cracked on the inside wall joints, the other was a ball where a piece flaked/fell off near the bottom. Both are more cosmetic than structural problems, but the paperclay I made just didn't work - it cracked or fell off after 1250 degree C firing.

Marianne

Great link! Will need time to go through all this!

Thank you!

Marianne

Then I recommend the 'bandaid' or mixing clay and a very runny glaze (half/half) that covers the area. Honey is a glaze that works nicely for this but it only will do the inside of a piece.

Honey

Opalescent Clear

Glossy

6

RUNS!

Spodumene--Foote 3200

Flint 3000

Gerstley Borate--1999 2000

Talc 1400

Dolomite 500

Kaolin--EPK 1515

Rutile 6%?

I can't say for sure how much Rutile until I get back home. Unfortunately the computer I am using had a corrupted file.

Hi Marianne, I can give you an empirical conformation that paper clay can work when repairing bisque: A few days ago I dropped a small white stoneware clay sphere, belonging to a student, it shattered into more than a dozen small pieces, I was mortified but set to to try and rescue something from the debris. I used a stoneware flax 'paper clay' as 'glue' between the joins but when all of the parts that I could find were assembled a gaping hole still remained (approx 20mm diam); I managed to patch the hole with more paper clay but as DKat suggests overlaid this with some glaze. This morning I took this jigsaw sphere from the kiln and although some areas of the repair were visible, the finish was not too bad and the structure of the piece was sound.

Success in this case may be due to method: I coated the inside of the sphere with a moderately thin layer of the paper clay (up to the point where the inside was no longer accessible) and did likewise on the outside, I then brushed on a coat of glaze, before the paper clay had dried.

Andy

An addition to my last post: In the 'workshops' at which I'm employed, we also teach papermaking using cotton linters ( a by - product of the cotton industry these are the cotton fibres that are too short to be spun); we have had few problems in making paper clay from the 'leftovers' from a paper making session using a fairly standard stoneware clay and up to forty percent paper pulp. We have even been successful in producing a casting slip from similar 'mixes'. Those problems we have had concern the mould that sometimes forms but to combat this we use either 'Milton' fluid or dilute domestic bleach; this is not an ideal solution (sorry for the pun) and tends to be temporary.The second solution is much more useful; we dry the paper clay in slabs,store it in a nice dry cupboard, and reconstitute it when needed. 'Hope this is of some use to someone, Andy

Hi Andy

I had a "biggish" batch of paperclay, and I did dry it and have then reconstituted it as needed, but I really do think that the recipe is not right, as the piece looks fine before firing, but the clay tends to then shrink during firing, and not adhere to the other clay.

I suppose what I really need is another recipe for paper-clay :-)

And I have no clue where to get hold of cotton fibers here. My dealer doesn't have it on his list, anyway.

Marianne

Hi Marianne, most paper when pulped will do the trick as most of it contains plant fibres; I believe some potters have begun to use polyester fibre in their 'paper clay' mixtures, this might be worth investigating.

Could the problem be in the ratio of paper pulp to clay; 'anyone else help on this?

I have no clue. I think next time, I will at least run the paper with water through a blender. I used recycled toilet paper last time - maybe that doesn't have the right qualities?

When I get the time and non-pottery-inspiration (will be ages, as I just went to a great show in Mallorca) - I will wander the net and see what I find of recipes here.

Marianne

Toilet paper in this country is going to have a minimum of long plant fibers (the goal is to make it 'soft'. Toilet paper from China would be most excellant! We use newspaper. I would bet paper grocery bags would be good. Thinking outloud...