All recipes are displayed as ratios, unless "in parts" is included in the recipe. You can adjust the recipe for larger or smaller batches by adjusting the total below the recipe. For example, for a 10,000-gram batch, put “10,000” in the box. Have more questions? View our help page here or watch a video tutorial here

Ingredients

Ingredient Amount
Albany Slip 975.60
Sodium Hexametaphosphate 24.40
Add Amount
Warm Water 8.00

Instructions


I mix these terra sigillata recipes in 1000 gram batches, which require 8 cups of water (add up to 10 cups of warm wate). To make the mixing easier, I use wide mouth gallon jugs, and prefer glass so it is easier to see whether the layers have separated.

At cone 10-11 this sigillata is a natural Albany Slip glaze, which is enhanced when fly ash or salt interact with it. Making it into a sigillata is more for the working properties of a sigillata in the application process than the finished result.

Making Terra Sigillatas

Mix deflocculent (I use sodium hexametaphosphate, a fabric water softener from the Dharma Trading Company) in warm water, preferably in a blender, pour into a container with correct quantity of water and add dry materials. After sieving, ball mill the terra sigillata 6–8 hours to increase the amount produced in a measured batch and reduce waste. After ball milling, let the terra sigillata settle for a week or more in a clear container, ladle off the clear water layer on top, then pour off the middle layer of terra sigillata. A layer of larger clay particles will have settled on the bottom of the container.

This recipe was shared by Alan Willoughby in the April 2019 issue of Ceramics Monthly.