I was reading on Pottery.About.Com that Albany Slip II is really Ravenscrag Slip & I was thinking that that just doesn't sound right.  Maybe Tony can give us the skinny on this.  I read somewhere else that there was a problem producing Alberta Slip II and that's why it isn't produced anymore.  Just wondering.......   jhp

Views: 326

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Alberta Slip II is Ravenscrag Slip according to Tony Hansen.  I don't find too many other people who ever mentioned there being a Alberta Slip 1 and 2.  Both are produced by the same company and it seems Alberta II was their initial name before adopting the Ravenscrag name. Just imagine the wonders of selling a pile of clay 50 miles long by the pound.

http://www.potters.org/subject23574.htm

Tony Hansen on sat 14 aug 1999  -- ravenscrag slip a.k.a. alberta slip ii

They have renamed this to Ravenscrag Slip and I made a cool
'raven' logo for it. They are now shipping samples.
This is a very unique material, 100% gives you a silky white
at cone 10. Add 20% frit 3134 for a glossy clear at cone 6.
There is a 50 mile long 3 foot thick layer of this stuff at
the quarry site.

The huge advantage of this material is this:
It has great application properties and you can lay it down
in multiple layers on bisque or greenware without crawling
or cracking. This opens a whole new world of possible
decorative effects.  For detailed info visit its webpage at
http://www.ceramicsearch.com/plainsman/data/raven.htm

If you need to duplicate Albany slip with this material try
starting with 4-6% iron and about 15-25% frit 3134.  Adjust
for color with the iron and increase or decrease the frit to
adjust melt fluidity.
--
Tony Hansen, Plainsman Clays Ltd.
plainsman@digitalfire.com

 

The classic Albany Slip recipe was 85 Albany, 11 Lithium Carbonate and 4% tin. This produced a beautifully variegated brown that exhibited all manner of dark and light tones depending on thickness.

Alberta Slip I did not work well with this recipe because of its high drying shrinkage, but Alberta Slip II is perfect. However, like Albany, the glazes tends to shiver on many clays. I thus altered it to 5 lithium, 21 Ferro Frit 3195, 4 tin and 75 Alberta Slip. It fires to a very similar effect and is obviously going to be less likely to leach lithium into food or drink. Like the original, it melts to a very smooth and defect free surface even where it is applied very thinly.

http://digitalfire.com/4sight/education/alberta_slip_20_years_of_su...

 

Alberta Slip is a dark burning quite plastic material, Ravenscrag is a light burning silty material. Both melt well at cone 10R and need frit to melt at cone 6.  http://plainsmanclays.com/ravenscrag/index.php

Plainsman Clays made a change in the Ravenscrag recipe starting with mix number 4288 from May 2002. It now has 10% added calcium carbonate to make it melt better.  http://digitalfire.com/4sight/material/ravenscrag_slip_1178.html

 

Ravenscrag Slip  --  This is also known as Alberta Slip II, but do not be confused.   Unlike Alberta slip, this is a light-colored slip clay that produces a light, silky-matte surface at cone 10. Fluxes can be added to the slip clay for a smoother surface, and coloring oxides work well with it to produce various colored slips.  http://pottery.about.com/od/diyclaybodies/tp/dryslip.htm

 

I've found that people working in ceramics are fairly "casual" about definitions and names, with words like plasticity referring to several completely different properties, without any attempt to distinguish what they're actually talking about.

Thanks Norm!

      I had done a search the first time, but it was on my phone when I was on the train & it didn't pull up anything useful.  A later search on my computer at work came up with the same post that you had quoted in your reply.  I couldn't imagine them being the same, since Alberta is dark burning like Albany & Ravenscrag is light burning.  What I like about Ravenscrag is you don't have to calcine half of it when using it as a major component in a glaze.  It has great glaze slurry properties and is really great to work with.  I am going to try some variations with using different amounts of Alberta & Ravenscrag in the same recipe.  Test, test, test......jhp

Reply to Discussion

RSS

Videos

  • Add Videos
  • View All

Use These Links to Support Us

Low cost flat lapping disc can be used on you potters wheel if you, drill bat pin holes in it, and provide a trickle of water to cool it. At amazon.com, 120 grit for aggressive material removal. Click the image to purchase 

Members have had great things to say about John Britt's new book, Mid-Range Glazes. Click the image to buy from Amazon.com

Purchase Glazes Cone 6 by Michael Bailey, The Potters Book of Glaze Recipes by Emmanuel Cooper, or Making Marks by Robin Hopper, all available at amazon.comMastering Cone 6 Glazes by John Hesselberth & Ron Roy is now out of print.

Harbor Freight is a great place to find unbeatable prices for better HVLP spray guns with stainless steel parts and serviceable economy models, as well as detail guns, all tested by our members for spraying glazes, as well as compressors to power the guns. As yet no one has tested and commented on the remarkably inexpensive air brushes at harbor freight.

The critter siphon gun is a spray alternative that is well liked by some of our members, and is available at amazon.

Amazon is also a competitive source for photo light tents for shooting professional quality pictures of your work. They also have the EZ Cube brand favored by several of our members. You might also want to purchase the book Photographing Arts, Crafts and Collectibles . . .

If you are up to creating videos of your work or techniques you might want to invest in a flip video camera

Following are a few scales useful for potters. Ohaus Triple Pro Mechanical Triple Beam Balance, 2610g x 0.1g, with Tare $169.00

And finally a low cost clone of the OHaus. The Adam Equipment TBB2610T Triple Beam Mechanical Balance With Tare Beam $99.62

ebay is a great alternative for many tools and the equipment used in the ceramics studio - kilns, wheels, extruders, slab rollers are often listed there both new and used.

Tips for Members

If you just want to spout off, it is best accomplished as a blog posting. If you want to get more guidance and ideas from other members, ask a question as a new discussion topic. In the upper right corner of the lists for both types of posting, you will find an "+Add " button. Clicking it will open an editor where you create your posting. 4/16/2014

© 2024   Created by Andrea Wolf.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service