The Raw Materials
small porcelain pourer, white glaze with iron rim
In my workshop I initially used two stoneware clay bodies and a porcelain made from clays and rocks mined near Gulgong, in Central Western N.S.W.
I no longer have access to the materials workshop. My current stoneware body is a composite of two remaining materials from Gulgong, a dark red clay in powder form, and crushed schist mixed with a recycled white stoneware body which I use for tableware.
The dark stoneware body features an irony schist from a hillside named Blue Biddy at Beryl, to the west of Gulgong, and the local red clay (164)
My initial porcelain was made from a clay/shale mined at Ulan, north of Gulgong. The shale had to be crushed, sieved and passed over a magnetic separator to remove iron fragments. The body was made from this single clay fluxed with 15% felspar, but did need flocculation treatment in it\'s milling to improve the throwing characteristics. See the section on Clay Making for details.
I am currently using a commercial porcelain body, \'Southern Ice\' (which is a superior body to the Ulan body in its workability) while I re-establish clay-making facilities here at my studio in Wentworth Falls