Our Champagne clay was SOOOO popular, we brought it back!!!
This versatile clay body will fire from 06-6 and features shimmery flecks, reminiscent of the bubbles of New Year's Eve.
Some clay bodies are special snowflakes....they can be beautiful and unique and really exquisite, but they require a little extra care. We know that sometimes that can be frustrating, but for many people, it's worth the frustration and the risk. Champagne is the first we've made that fits in that category. We've compiled a few do's and don'ts for working with this body to help you achieve maximum success.
Throwing - we noted early in our testing of this body that sometimes while throwing with this clay, you might encounter a little fleck of sparkle that ends up in a less-than-ideal location....it might be on the rim you are trying to smooth, or you might find one when trimming a foot. Feel free to let loose an expletive if that's your style, but then just stop the wheel and use a needle tool to reposition or remove the flake. It didn't really bother anyone out here too much, but it is worth noting so it doesn't catch you off guard. Those flakes also can be a bit more abrasive on your hands. If you don't already know the potter's trick of "udder butter" or bag balm, now is the time to learn that one. (just google it)
We've found a few times that these flakes like to rise to the surface during the firing, and again, sometimes these are at an "inopportune" or "un-prefered" spot. A small grinding stone, or maybe a dremel will fix this right up. Some people might like it, even. When Anne and Bill were salt potters and the salt from the shelf above would drip onto a piece below, it was either a kiln tear or a dammit, depending on where it lands. It's all in the eye of the beholder.
About the shimmer effect it's a subtle shine, one that you typically see as light reflects off of it when it moves. If you want more of this shimmer at the surface, make sure you don't overly smooth the clay when working with it. A rubber rib, for instance, will just compress all that beauty deeper below the top platelets of clay. And while we definitely believe true beauty lies below the surface, in this case, using a metal rib to scrape away any slurry will give you more shimmer effect after the firing. the before and after is pretty similar, so if you're not seeing enough shimmer in the raw state, try gently scraping that top layer...(exfoliating, perhaps, if we continue the skin metaphor)
Firing hotter changes the shimmer, and we've seen it turn into champagne colored flecks and we also saw a more platinum appearance. The truth is, the magic dust in this clay has so much variety, it WILL be unpredictable. We named it champagne after seeing that color at cone 6 and then the very next firing, it laughed at us and said "that's what you get for thinking you can tame this wild spirit!" In that firing, the shimmer looked like the sparkle of the sun on fresh snow, but very subtle (and really almost impossible to photograph).
This is a seasonal clay body and once it's gone, it won't be back until 2023.
