Pure

I'm hoping to start a couple of weeks of porcelain throwing,after 3 biscsfull of stoneware. Most of the work will be with the amenable Coleman porcelain,but I have a batch of the original Naaman porcelain soaking with a plasticizing mixture of my devising [ball clay,bentonite,molochite,VgumTee]. I also prepared some "straight" Naaman porcelain,which we know contains kaolin [50%] feldspar and quartz [25% each]- a classic formulation,made for slip-casting and very hard to throw on the wheel: it's extremely floppy,and demands constant attention while throwing. Potters talk of such clays as lacking bones,an excellent quality in a fish fillet,but problematic in a throwing clay. This lack of structural strength when wet makes it a wonderful teacher- most of my wheel technique was learned on pure Naaman porcelain and the notoriously limp B5 white stoneware from the late Avi Leumi. Having cleaned up the studio in readiness for the porcelain,I was gratified to see that I can still throw [just about] with the pure unadulterated Naaman.