Super interesting. More tests like this would be really good, although to be honest I'm here for anything you publish - your videos are not only beautiful in themselves, but I feel they are tutorials on mindfulness too
Thank you so much Mike! That all means so much. Clay tests are so interesting... and I've just been had a whole range of porcelain delivered too so once I've got a few things out of the way I'll start the process of filming those tests too. Appreciate you taking the time to watch!
The difference between your old bowls and the new ones is quite amazing. Super interesting what just a change of clay can do. Also I really like the fleck one.
I really like the Fleck clay! I can absolutely see myself staring at pieces made from them for hours on end between the crackle glaze, the fine geometry, and the spots of iron coming through.
Would be interesting if you wedged a 50/50 mix of your old clay with the fleck to reduce the speckling. It would also allow you to save a bit of money and stretch the Fleck clay further while getting the speckling down to an amount that you prefer, and should also improve the qualities of the clay for glazing, as well as make the texture more familiar to you for turning. Might make for a neat set of experiments.
This was one of your best videos; I thank you for sharing the details of the reduction firing! You have cleared up my confusion as to what to do at the end of of the firing with your "Quick Cool" method.. For me, , I had found that after INITIATING reduction, I was always Unclear about what to do at the end. Specifically, What to do to stop the reduction, and prevent re-oxidation of the pieces without losing the effect, and how quick to do it! This video helped A LOT! Thanks again
Your usual clay does seem a bit clean in comparison to these three newer clays, I wonder how Fleck and SSB8G would look on a larger pot. I think the amount of speckling on Fleck would look really nice on a taller vessel, where having a large surface full of speckles would make for extremely unique and interesting pieces. It reminds me of a video you made last year where you sprinkled iron oxide into your usual clay, you included examples of what you hoped the result would appear like.
Exactly! It's really similar to that pot - in fact, I should finally be able to make a conclusion video to that vase with iron sprinkled into the body - just have to do one more firing...
Your videos on top of being pretty interesting to watch have a therapeutic sort of quality that helps me fall asleep when I need to. I am infinitely thankful for this.
I loved the fleck one. I’m new to this pottery journey, and was so shocked to see how your old clay looked compared to fleck especially. Love your videos. See you next week!
The new clays are amazing, I love the impurities and while the fleck is a lot, it's so beautiful with the glazes you used. That roughness really works with the gorgeous crackling of the glaze and the darker rim of the clay shining through the glaze.
Congratulations on your masterclass! What a beautiful return to where you started off and how far your hard work and love of pottery have taken you! I know that you have inspired me as I've started my journey with pottery and hope that I can also progress to a place where I feel surprised by how much I've learned. I love your videos so much! Thank you for sharing so generously with us :)
The fleck reminds me of blackbird eggs, the speckled blue/green surface. And I really like the look of the unglazed bottom on the fleck. But I do enjoy the less textured clays, allowing the cracked glaze standout ❤
Thanks for this interesting and insightful video! i think your usual clay looks the most appealing for food dishes, but the others look very intersting for other pots.
The iron speckles in the clay give it a lot more character and are beautiful! They really emphasis your glaze and would work well together on a body of work. I would go with fleck! Your glaze is universal with any choice in clay though. Good work Florian!
Your way of making every little step so important and kind of easy plus your way explaining are awesome. You are such a master. Inspired by your constance. Ciao
this video was fun, i was so excited to see the results. The Fleck is fun! I also love the other clay that didn't slump for a bit of a middle between your usual clay body and the fleck.
I like speckled clays. The results are much more dramatic and it is nice to be able to explain this to non-potters, but they are grittier and it takes more time to sand the bottoms. I use Laguna’s speckled buff. Love your videos.
The Fleck is so dramatic!! I love it!!! Can't wait to see it in the store! (I only hope I can manage to get one of your pieces when you stock up. Last time, around Christmas, I was 15 min past the opening and everything I wanted was sold out :/)
Wow, I wasn't expecting that much of a difference, but the fleck is gorgeous, those metallic dots against the soft green is so pretty; I might make a cross-stitch pattern based on those colors :)
I think the intensity of the texture given by the Fleck clay lends itself to the darker glaze, breaking up the surface without too much contrast with the base color. The way the chunkier flecks come out against the white reminds me of cookies and cream. 😅 I more prefer the SSB8G for that, I love the warmer rim with the light flecking against that lovely white.
I can't wait too! They all look so interesting and I've got a bunch of information about each body to share as well. It might be a long time in the making.
The crackling is quite beautiful. Seemed the fleck had more pinholing, (a feature of the body I'm guessing) and was a the definately the most interseting. Beautiful work. I love to learn from your videos.
omg the timing lol for my university portfolio im making my own clay buy using a mix of commercial and wild clay. they look so good with your glazes! i love the speckling it reminds me of the eggshells of house sparrows
i see what you meant about the fleck, tho it is rather striking! i like the SSB8G for a one to one swap with your standard stoneware - if its just a little different character you're after, i think it works well. beautiful work, Florian!
An amazing test. I really like how Fleck turned out, though maybe a bit strong for a simple, light form like that bowl. I'm really curious how a teapot or a larger, heavier piece would look like. Somehow I was expecting the final tone to be much different then usual after seeing how these clay bodies looked after the first firing. Anyway great work as usual, I'm looking forward to your next project.
Love the experimentation side of pottery and its unknown outcome, although I find it also overwhelming due to the endless possibilities... a thin line to balance in my weird 🧠
The variability in these tests are compatible with your originl clay body. The speckles are nice because they are not overwhelming. I Like the warmer breaks.
A wonderful video, Florian! As someone who is constantly, one might say almost pathologically, trying out new clays to find *just* the right subtle differences, I was enthralled by this. I look forward to seeing you trying the Potclays clays - although it will no doubt further fuel my addiction to trying new clay bodies! 🫣
Awesome video! I wonder how the fleck would look like on a bigger project, say a vase or a teapot. Also maybe comparisons between different kinds of clay in general could become a regular occurence? 👀
Your existing clay body and the new clays offer such different outcomes. I tend towards very clean looking pieces but I have to say here I thought the newer clay body is interesting. If you throw a substantial number with the new clay body and then offer them both for sale it will be interesting to see the buyers' response. (And I've just joined a ceramic studio with a gas kiln after only firing in an electric so your process even more interesting than usual..)
Pleased you think so - I like the fleck a lot, it introduces enough difference to make it interesting without it being too similar to my usual stoneware.
this was so interesting. Must have taken you forever to film the whole process with all that waiting in between. Thank you for putting it all in one video! I am not a fan of fleck, but maybe thats because I generally like uniform surfaces on a bowl more? The differences are interesting though. I think I liked you old one the most.
Fleck and SSB look really great. Fleck does look a bit too dark on your darkest glaze though. All the surfaces have an interesting variety of speckling!
the middle one seems to have just enough to add a bit of character without looking too much. But I do like the speck as well, it would do well with things you don't eat or drink from directly such as vases and teapots.
I remember watching you making a tall pot or something, where you rolled out individual snakes of clay and layered them on top of one another in circles to get the basic cylinder shape.. I wonder if you could incorporate a single snake of speck or ssb8 into such a form without it introducing fatal stresses during firing. Is it uncommon to add impurities to specific parts of pottery? Loving the experiment, I think the speckles add interesting character for sure.
I know that you don’t let any of your clay to go the waste…. How do you use the scraps from these different clays? Are you able to mix them together with your other scraps or do you make sure to keep the different types separate?
Well, as long as the scraps are the same sort of clay, such as stonewares that fire to similar temperature ranges, then I can just mix them altogether and wedge them properly and they'll disappear into my normal stoneware body. Sometimes there are tiny patches of other clays but I don't mind, the glaze hides everything anyway.
Not sure if this has been asked, but is it possible to mix some of your clay together to attempt to make a bit of a hybrid. What I mean is mixing your usual clay body with some of the Fleck? I ask because I thought seeing what a hybrid of the two would look like would be interesting.
Something woderful caught my eye. I suspect i was most visible in the middle row. I enjoy the cracked edges in the burned glase where there is increased contrast between the cracked edge and ‘full base color’ …so there is visible shimmer or sparkle when the bowl was tilted in the light. Wery subte and delightful. (It is terrible difficult to describe something that is outside my everyday speak. I hope it made sense:)😊
Out of interest, can these clays be joined to your classic one? As in a teapot, but with a Fleck handle and spout, for example. I think that could be an interesting look.
When dipping in glaze, why do the tongs grab inside and outside of the rim, instead of centre plus foot? As a lazy person, I'd think that saves me fettling the outside fault plus gravity will have made the fault in the centre smaller if anything -- so there must be a reason?
If I grabbed them via the foot I wouldn’t be able to place them down immediately after glazing them. I’d have to hold the pot and wait until it dries enough to be able to hold it and place it down. This way, by clasping the rim section, I can glaze and place down easily, without having to wait for them to dry, which speeds up glazing a tremendous amount.
@@floriangadsby Ah yes that makes a lot of sense... short-sighted me. With "my" grip, you'd have to start notching out your table surface to let the tongs pass, but the distance between notches depends on the objects' size which varies... a hopeless plan. Thanks.
The shot of the old clay versus the new ones was quite dramatic. It's funny, because your glazes had always seemed to have so much character, but the new ones just blow it away. I really liked the SSB8G. Lots of character, but still an evenness to the final appearance. I found the Fleck a little distracting; the spotting seemed too large and irregular. (Although that might be due to the size of the bowl. A larger piece might be really nice with that finish.) The iron specks were interesting at the unglazed foot, but not exactly attractive.