FIRING RANGE: CONE 5
Wet Color: Red
Firing Color: very dark gray; black when glazed
Texture: Slightly Smooth (< 5% grog)
Avg. Total Shrinkage: 10.13%
Avg. Absorption at Cone 5: 0.19%
Eclipse is a very dark gray mid-range stoneware clay body that fires to black when glazed. Designed to replace (and one-up) our old Midnight Black clay, it is formulated with lower manganese levels for user safety. Stronger and less likely to bloat than previous dark clays, it fires to 0% porosity to ensure strength, good glass development, and a body that can be put to the test. It has a rich, sophisticated color when unglazed, and offers a fantastic contrast for marbling or combining with lighter clays.
TIPS FOR BEST RESULTS WITH DARK CLAYS:
As most potters know, dark clay bodies are beautiful, but definitely can be finicky to work with. These are our top tips to ensure the most success in your pieces when working with a dark clay body!
Clays with heavy colorants need room for off-gassing. We recommend avoiding tightly packing your bisque fire for optimal results with our darker clays.
We recommend using a slow bisque schedule and a fast glaze setting while firing your pieces. This will allow for more off gassing during the bisque firing, and reduce the amount of heat work in the glaze firing.
We also recommend glaze firing to Cone 5 with a witness cone. While our clays can perform at Cone 6, the best and most reliable performance will be seen at Cone 5. It may bloat at higher temps. See photo to the left, with examples fired at cone 04, cone 5 and cone 8.
We like it for throwing, handbuilding, dinnerware, tile, sanitaryware, jiggering/jollying, and pressing. We hope you enjoy Eclipse!