Slip Casting "Upset Cubes"

This work is done by throwing clay cubes on the ground one on top of the other...when I drop them I first put a layer of wax paper so they don't stick to each other. The way the clay moves reminds me of forging steel. Upsetting is the process of forging the steel thicker. This is done by either slamming the heated steel on an anvil or putting it in a vice and hammering away.

So when I call them upset I'm not talking about their mood, although I don't mind if you think so. Like steel, the dropped clay gets nice looking fat ripples on the surface.

After these are all leather hard, I am going to take molds of each piece then slip-cast them into translucent porcelain....that's the plan anyway. I got mold making down but am new to pouring, finding/making slip.

I found this Cone 10 recipe online that I’m going to test out first:

White Stallion Porcelain, Fara Shimbo, 2002

35 Grolleg
30 Kona F4 (for crystalline glazes) or G-200 feldspar
20 silica
15 EPK
1 part by addition Neodymium oxide.

Using neodymium as a de-colorant is a trick from glassmakers. Put very simply, neodymium selectively absorbs yellow light and e-emits it as blue/violet/red light.

Now casting slip also needs a deflocculant and for this I need to get my hands on some sodium silicate. Two things I can’t find around here…the Neodymium (which I can live with the slip being yellowish) and the Sodium Silicate. It’s easier to find a hooker and meth in these here parts.