Inlaid Clay Firing Results

Every firing I have a number of experimental pieces I'm testing. These are the results of the test pieces for the inlaid clay. Click on the link to see the pieces before firing and to read about the process I used to inlay the clay. For these pieces I've used white stoneware clay inlaid into an iron rich red stoneware clay.


The good news is the clay stayed inlaid during the bisque and glaze firing and didn't pop out. But if you look real close the first two larger flowers shapes have cracks across them. The cracks don't go all the way through but are on the top. I pressed into those two pieces after inlaying the clay to make the bowl shape. I think this may have caused a stress on the two clays. The final fired thickness is about 1/4 inch, could have been thinner perhaps. After a suggestion from Dennis from my inlaid post I used a semi-translucent green glaze on these first two. Thanks Dennis.


For these four test pieces I inlaid small dots of clay and didn't press as hard to make the bowl shape so there are no cracks. But if you look closely you can see the clear satin glaze is too thick in places. What looks like bubbles in the one test may be clay grit or the glaze may need re-sieving. The pieces feel smooth to my fingers. The final fired thickness is 1/8 inch, that might be a better thickness for inlaid pieces. I do like the sharp contrast between the white and dark stoneware clays.

The large platter I made is still drying, but before risking it in a firing, I'll make more test pieces to retest with inlaid clay. Up next workshop information, a multitude of mushrooms, poached snapper on the grill and more, so stay tuned. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.