search  current discussion  categories  materials - clay 

grolleg porcelain

updated mon 6 feb 06

 

Victoria E. Hamilton on sat 4 feb 06


Jason -

I've just resumed throwing with an English grolleg porcelain (^10), after
many years of badmouthing it! Never thought I threw particularly fast, but
I find if I slow down, and have a propane torch handy, it works fairly well.
Also, John Rodgers suggestion of using a porcelain slurry to throw with
instead of water is definitely the way to go.

Take your time, and enjoy the ride!

Vicki Hamilton
Millennia Antica Pottery
Seattle, WA


-----Original Message-----
From: Clayart [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG] On Behalf Of
boobyagga@juno.com
Sent: Friday, February 03, 2006 18:10
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: grolleg porcelain

is it just me or does grolleg porcelain absolutely suck to throw with?? i
used to think i was a pretty darn good thrower untill the past 2 days. i've
turned out some amazingly beautiful and large pots using my ^5 stoneware. so
when my art teacher and i were ordering new clay in mass i suggested the ^5
i was using and a few hundred lbs of its brown cousin. and to boot we threw
in 100 lbs of grolleg porcelain just to test because i know at ^10 and such
it turns translucent when very thin and works great in slab work. and i
usually have no problem making very thin pots...so i wanted to make some
pots that were translucent.
ive struggled and used every little trick i know to eek out a bowl thats
about 4 inches tall and 8 inches around. i was successful after about 8
failures....it's been ridiculous! and i know people throw with porcelain all
the time...but thats the normal porcelain...not the grolleg. so am i really
that bad of a potter or is grolleg just one of those bodies definately not
intended for throwing.
very frustrated and annoyed right now.
jason

____________________________________________________________________________
__
Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org

You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/

Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.

John Rodgers on sat 4 feb 06


Jason, you are probably going to get all kinds of responses on this.

My experience - Standard Grolleg- Cone 6

Grolleg to me is the finest of the porcelains you see out there. And it
is touchy. It requires much less water than other clays, even other
porelains. In throwing Grolleg I find it imperative that I make a
porcelain clay slurry to throw with, rather than use water. I also find
that I cannot rush with Grolleg. The kind of handling required for
Grolleg is best said in a quote from the Rubiaat of Ohma Kaa'yam, as
the potter prepares the clay for forming, says the clay to the potter -
'Gently, Brother, gently!"

I work grolleg with the slurry on one side of me, and a hot air gun at
my right hand. The hot air gun is used to stiffen the clay at points
where needed, otherwise a collapse would ensue.

Give it a go. It worked for me.

John Rodgers
Chelsea, AL

boobyagga@juno.com wrote:

>is it just me or does grolleg porcelain absolutely suck to throw with?? i used to think i was a pretty darn good thrower untill the past 2 days. i've turned out some amazingly beautiful and large pots using my ^5 stoneware. so when my art teacher and i were ordering new clay in mass i suggested the ^5 i was using and a few hundred lbs of its brown cousin. and to boot we threw in 100 lbs of grolleg porcelain just to test because i know at ^10 and such it turns translucent when very thin and works great in slab work. and i usually have no problem making very thin pots...so i wanted to make some pots that were translucent.
>ive struggled and used every little trick i know to eek out a bowl thats about 4 inches tall and 8 inches around. i was successful after about 8 failures....it's been ridiculous! and i know people throw with porcelain all the time...but thats the normal porcelain...not the grolleg. so am i really that bad of a potter or is grolleg just one of those bodies definately not intended for throwing.
>very frustrated and annoyed right now.
>jason
>
>______________________________________________________________________________
>Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
>You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
>settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
>Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
>
>
>
>

skiasonaranthropos@FSMAIL.NET on sat 4 feb 06


Hello all,
To avoid confusion can someone clear up what is meant here by Grolleg
porcelain? The reason being that Grolleg is a trademarked name for a grade
of English kaolin, which on its own wouldnt make porcelain. It of course
could be used in a formulation but I doubt if the owners would be happy for
another company to use that name for another product
Regards,
Antony

boobyagga@juno.com on sat 4 feb 06


is it just me or does grolleg porcelain absolutely suck to throw with?? =
i used to think i was a pretty darn good thrower untill the past 2 days.=
i've turned out some amazingly beautiful and large pots using my ^5 sto=
neware. so when my art teacher and i were ordering new clay in mass i su=
ggested the ^5 i was using and a few hundred lbs of its brown cousin. an=
d to boot we threw in 100 lbs of grolleg porcelain just to test because =
i know at ^10 and such it turns translucent when very thin and works gre=
at in slab work. and i usually have no problem making very thin pots...s=
o i wanted to make some pots that were translucent. =

ive struggled and used every little trick i know to eek out a bowl thats=
about 4 inches tall and 8 inches around. i was successful after about 8=
failures....it's been ridiculous! and i know people throw with porcelai=
n all the time...but thats the normal porcelain...not the grolleg. so am=
i really that bad of a potter or is grolleg just one of those bodies de=
finately not intended for throwing. =

very frustrated and annoyed right now. =

jason

Lee Love on sun 5 feb 06


On 2006/02/05 6:18:05, skiasonaranthropos@fsmail.net wrote:
> Hello all,
> To avoid confusion can someone clear up what is meant here by Grolleg
> porcelain?

It is straight forward: Grolleg porcelain, which is available at many
clay companies in America, is a porcelain body made with Grolleg kaolin,
which is imported from England. Grolleg kaolin is Grolleg kaolin.
Maybe you don't have access to Grolleg porcelain where you live?

--
Lee Love
in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org

skiasonaranthropos@FSMAIL.NET on sun 5 feb 06


Thanks for the clarification Lee. I know Grolleg kaolin well but I was a
little puzzled about =91Grolleg Porcelain=92 as opposed to =91Porcelain prep=
ared
with Grolleg kaolin=92. Sure the former is a more snappy name but I was
pondering the legal implications of using a trademark in such a way
Regards,
Antony