Pottery Clays & Clay Bodies for Ceramics | Plainsman Clays

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M340 Mid Fire Clay

M340

M340 is one of our most popular general-purpose clay bodies – plastic, medium-fired and buff burning, and it throws and hand-builds equally well. Best fired to cone 6.

Recommended Cone 5-7

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M370 is one of our most popular white, medium-fired stoneware clay bodies. It has excellent plasticity, which makes it a pleasure to throw, and its lighter off-white colour gives you an ideal canvas for decorating.

Recommended Cone 6

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Wheat Mid Fire Clay

WHEAT

Wheat is a smooth, highly plastic general purpose clay body for cone 6, firing to a warm buff with a light iron speck. It is a lower-cost alternative to our M340 bodies, with a similar maturity and colour at cone 6.

Recommended Cone 6

P300 Mid Fire Porcelain

P300

P300 is a smooth, off-white porcelain for cone 6 work. It fires whiter than M370 and close to Polar Ice, with plasticity that many potters rate at or above M370 – and it is not translucent at cone 6.

Recommended Cone 6

Buffstone Low Fire Clay

BUFFSTONE

Buffstone is a general purpose, buff-burning clay body with medium plasticity. It is our most affordable body and a common choice for schools and teaching studios working at low fire with commercial underglazes and glazes.

Recommended Cone 06-04

Coffee Mid Fire Clay

COFFEE

Coffee is a smooth, dark brown burning stoneware for cone 6 functional ware. It throws easily and generates plenty of slip on the wheel, and its colour comes from burnt umber worked into the body rather than from a slip or a glaze.

Recommended Cone 5-6

H441G High Fire Clay

H441G

H441G is the most refractory body we make – a grogged, medium textured clay for reduction-fired sculpture and hand-building. Because it stays porous and does not vitrify, it holds its shape in the kiln, which is what makes overhangs, appendages and other forms with little structural strength possible.

Recommended Cone 10

H550 High Fire Clay

H550

H550 is a slightly sandy, semi-vitreous stoneware for high-fire work – a general purpose body for functional and decorative ware. Production potters fire it at cone 10 reduction, where it comes out a solid grey with light specking.

Recommended Cone 10

H555 High Fire Clay

H555

H555 is a smooth, vitreous stoneware for high-fire functional work, in oxidation or reduction. It is pleasant to throw, with high green strength and a low dry shrinkage that keeps drying cracks down.

Recommended Cone 10

H570 High Fire Clay

H570

H570 is a smooth, plastic, white to grey-white whiteware for high-fire functional work, in oxidation or reduction. It is the practical alternative to a porcelain: not as white and not as vitreous, but easier to dry, less prone to warping, and easier to fit a glaze to.

Recommended Cone 10

L210 Low Fire Clay

L210

L210 is a smooth, silty, medium plastic earthenware for low-fire work. Its light raw colour makes it easy to clean up after, which is why it is a common choice for schools and teaching studios. It fires to a light warm orange red.

Recommended Cone 06-04

L212 Low Fire Clay

L212

L212 is a smooth, medium plastic talc earthenware for low-fire work, firing to a light cream at cone 06 to 04. It is made for commercial low-fire glazes and is widely used in schools.

Recommended Cone 06-04

L215 Low Fire Clay

L215

L215 is a smooth, plastic, red-burning terra cotta for low-fire work. It is built from a mix of our native red clays and our native stoneware, and it is good for throwing and hand-building.

Recommended Cone 06-04

M332 Mid Fire Clay

M332

M332 is a sandy, highly plastic throwing body that fires a warm red brown. The sand gives it tooth and texture without taking away the plasticity potters need on the wheel.

Recommended Cone 6

M332G Mid Fire Clay

M332G

M332G is M332 with grog added – a warm brown burning body for hand-building and sculpture. The grog allows water to escape from a thick wall and lowers the drying shrinkage, which is what makes larger work practical.

Recommended Cone 6

M340GS Mid Fire Clay

M340GS

M340GS is M340S with added grog. It has a slightly coarser tooth within a plastic matrix, and is good for work that requires some structural strength. It is made almost exclusively from our native clays – take care not to over-saturate the surface with water.

Recommended Cone 6

M340S Mid Fire Clay

M340S

M340S is a light beige, cone 6 clay body with dark speckles running all the way through it. It is the one to reach for if you want a spotted, variegated surface under your glazes.

Recommended Cone 6

M350 Mid Fire Clay

M350

M350 is the body to reach for if you want functional ware from a light red brown burning clay. It is a sturdy cone 6 stoneware with excellent green strength, blended from four of our locally mined clays.

Recommended Cone 6

M370 Casting Slip

M370-CAST

A white mid fire casting body for slip casting in plaster moulds, sold dry for mixing your own slip.

Recommended Cone 6

M390 Mid Fire Clay

M390

M390 is a smooth, very plastic red stoneware for functional ware at mid range. It carries more native Redstone than any of our other bodies, which is where the depth of colour comes from, and it is a joy to work with on the wheel.

Recommended Cone 5-7

P600 High Fire Porcelain

P600

P600 is a white burning porcelain for high fire work in both reduction and oxidation. It is smooth and fine grained, it fires to a clean white in either atmosphere, and it matures at cone 10 to a dense body with a silky surface.

Recommended Cone 10

P700 High Fire Porcelain

P700

P700 is the most vitreous of our high fire porcelains. It fires a translucent white in oxidation and a clean blue white in cone 10 reduction, it reaches zero absorption, and it is translucent where the wall is thin.

Recommended Cone 10

Polar Ice Mid Fire Porcelain

POLARICE

Polar Ice is our whitest and most translucent cone 6 porcelain, prized for its brilliant white fired colour and exceptional translucency. Its unique properties make it a truly striking clay body, although it requires more care and skill on the wheel.

Recommended Cone 6