View Catalog

Normal Hours of Operation

Mon-Fri: 8am-4.00pm
Closed: Noon-12:30pm

We will be closed Friday March 29 and Monday April 1 for the Easter Holiday

Closed all provincial and federal holidays

Information

Home

Contact Page

Map

About

Plainsman Products

Services & Information


Clays

  Low Temperature Clays
  Medium Temperature Clays
  High Temperature Clays
  Porcelains
  Other Clays
  Native Clays
  Casting Slips

Materials

  Dry Materials
  Stains
  Encapsulated Stains
  Liquids

Glazes

  Spectrum Opaque Gloss Low Fire Glazes
  Spectrum Metallic Glazes
  Plainsman Dry Glazes
  Potter's Choice Cone 5/6 Glazes
  Celadon Cone 5/6 Glazes
  Amaco Satin Matte Glazes
  Liquid Brights

Underglazes

  Amaco Velvet Underglazes

Enamelling

Equipment

 Kilns
  Electric Pottery Kilns
  Electric Glass Kilns
  Kiln Furniture
  Cones
  Elements
  Kiln Parts, Accessories
  Exhaust Systems
  Refractories
  Potter's Wheels
  Slab Rollers
  Hand Extruders
  Pugmills
  Scales
  Banding Wheels
  Air Brushes

Tools

  Brushes
  Throwing Tools
  Trimming, Turning, Cutting Tools
  Wood/Bamboo Tools
  Rollers/Stamps
  Decorating Tools
  Glazing Tools
  Ribs & Scrapers
  Ribbon/Wire Tools
  Rasps
  Knives, Needle Tools, Cutters
  Tool Kits
  Unclassified

Accessories

  Miscellaneous Accesories
  Corks/Stoppers
  Cork Pads
  Oil Lamp Accessories
  Dispenser Pumps
  Teapot Handles
  Bisque Tiles

Porcelain and Whiteware Bodies

The Canadian prairies have incredible clay resources. And we have natural gas. More than a century ago this was noted and a large scale ceramic industry grew in this area because they recognized the presence of these two essential ingredients. These two things are still here today. But what other things are needed? Ceramic manufacturing now is a hi-tech industry, leading the world in many fields (e.g. robotics, dust-pressing, ink-jet printing, powder and slurry processing, plastic forming, refractories, abrasion and heat resistance, hard surfacing, additive manufacturing, zero thermal expansion products, insulating products, 3D printing of structures) and leading countries (like Spain, Italy, Turkey, Vietnam, Middle East) have many research organizations working on basic science. The ceramic industry worldwide (companies firing minerals in kilns to produce products) is the largest single user of energy. Amazingly, many ceramic manufacturers are located in areas where energy is expensive and clays are distant, they are able to thrive because of their innovative and approach.

In Alberta (and Saskatchewan) we know technology. The oil and mining industries have been developing it for decades, they are world leaders in many areas. There are many parallels and overlaps between them and ceramics. For example, well-sites process drilling mud (which is clay and barite, both ceramic minerals) using screen separators, centrifuges, pumps and mixers, they do it using a continuous process capable of high volumes. This equipment could be employed to refine clays to make them more than suitable for the manufacture of tile, tableware, porcelain, sanitaryware and more (processing that is impossible now because of the lack of equipment). The oil industry (and cement) are highly qualified in the design and use of boilers, tunnel driers, calciners, furnaces, burner systems; all of these are essential in ceramic manufacture. And they are experts in process control, mineral and chemical characterization, lab procedures and equipment. The mining industry has expertise in particle size reduction, grinding hard powders to micron sizes for extraction of metals; these again are essential technologies needed by a ceramic industry.

To reflect on the pervasiveness of the ceramic industry, consider just sitting in a room. You are surrounded on all sides by products made using ceramic processes and and millions of tons of ceramic materials (e.g. paints and inks, plastics, metals, glass, porcelain, cement, paper, rubber, fibreglass). But the most striking of all is the color you see. Almost all industrial products are colored using inorganic pigments made by the ceramic industry. To not be producing any of the basic materials or the products in a location that sits right on top of hundreds of meters of clays layered down since the Jurassic age! Few places in the world have the two key advantages that we have.

Most people do not even know what a "ceramic engineer" is. Most would think of pottery. But these engineers are responsible for many of the components in our cell phones! For Gorilla glass. For super conductors, they are ceramic. Even precision metal parts, like the gears in the transmission of your car, are produced by powder-pressing and firing in a kiln (making them ceramic). The oldest professional organization in North America is the American Ceramic Society! It is also the oldest technical profession in history. Ceramic engineering is extremely important in most parts of the world. Except here! Why?

More information coming here about what is needed to bring the ceramic industry back. All the pieces are here, what is needed is dreamers, innovators and investors. And a supply industry the producers can rely on. We will soon start by showcasing the quality of the clays available here and what could be made from them. You will be able to order a coffee mug made from them and every time you take a drink you will be reminded of what we could have here again!

Plainsman Clays Ltd., 702 Wood Street, Medicine Hat, Alberta T1A 1E9
Phone: 403-527-8535    FAX: 403-527-7508