The Thicker, The Glossier

Stands to reason that larger/thicker pieces have a Glossier finish, than smaller ones. Does it not? A thicker piece takes longer to dry, yes? With longer drying time more salts wicks through to the surface, agree? The more salts on the surface the thicker the glaze forms, right?

The two figures in the image here are constructed from the exact same clay/Egyptian paste mix. They dried next to each other; they were fired along side one another in the kiln. Mason stain, pansy purple, was added to the basic mix, 2.5% by weight. You can observe here that the thicker the glaze the bluer it appears. On the bottoms where no evaporation occurs their color appears identical.

Lots of cracks developed in bigger pieces as they dried. Possibly, the introduction of sand or grog would alleviate this cracking. Of course additions to the basic recipe might also affect the color. The addition of grog would also improve this clay's ability to stand up. There’s always more experimentation to be done.

Back to Paste!

This little Guy on our left here was supposed to remind me to do some experimenting with Egyptian paste and report back to the world on my findings. Well for the past five years he's been as silent as an Egyptian tomb. Five years ago this blog was started with a lot of enthusiasm and then just sort of fizzled out. Surprisingly, I did have one comment in those five years; So, I know at least one somebody out in this vast universe is following my adventures in Egyptian paste. There's still a batch, maybe two on my reagent shelf of Egyptian paste that I mixed up years ago. Add a little water and elbow grease and I'm good to go. If I don't report back in a fortnight or so it's this little guy's fault and none of my own.

Working in Egyptian Paste

If Egyptian Paste is defined as self-glazing clay then this blog will consist of my adventures of trying to create with it. More than likely more pictures will be posted here rather than text, because pictures tend to be self-explanatory. It is hoped by sharing ideas, techniques and problems in working Egyptian paste with you that it will aid me in understanding this media.

I should sidebar here to say that Egyptian paste is not true clay but rather pulverized glass; it's about as pliable as wet sand. To the right is a little three-legged stool I formed (from a recipe I shall divulge further down the blog). I haven't learned how to put captions on pictures yet, but that won't stop me from enclosing them just now.
Furthermore, why the antiquities of this media are labeled Faience is beyond my comprehension. Faience is a majolica pottery made in the town Faenza, Italy. I visited that town years back and noticed that Egyptian paste looks nothing like Faience. I've read that the Egyptians themselves referred to it as "tjehnet"; a Google search on tjehnet will yield a few of the artifacts but the same search on faience will overwhelm one. In researching Egyptian paste numerous archaeological references were discovered, but little in actually working the "clay". Therefore this blog is to be the first comprehensive guide in working with Egyptian paste. Only you will be working alongside me as I discover this trail.