Paper Porcelain Basics
 
 

 
   
Paper Porcelain
 

I have made paper clay from most of my other clay bodies, so I decided to try making some from the Southern Ice Porcelain.

Southern Ice is a fabulous porcelain, translucent and icy white.
Pieces made from it must be dried very slowly or they tend to crack.
I was hoping adding some paper would eliminate this problem.

  
 

 

To make paper porcelain, I buy the cheapest one ply toilet paper I can find, unroll it and soak it overnight in a bucket of hot water. For these tests, I made several batches using between 1/2 a roll to 1 1/2 rolls per 22 pounds of porcelain.
The amount of paper used is dictated by the end use of the clay.
A high percentage of paper is great for handbuilding large forms but too much for carving small details.

   
 

 

 

I use my regular glaze sieves to strain most of the water out of the pulp. I like to leave the pulp wet but not drippy.

Then I mix in the wet clay.

Some people mix this pulp with dry clay using a drill mixer.
 

 

 

 

I use a Hobart Dough mixer to blend the clay and paper. I bought it used from a restaurant supply house.

Two other ways to mix are to dry the bagged clay, re-hydrate it and mix in pulp or to mix this pulp with dry clay using a drill mixer.

  
   
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I add the pulp first, then add half of the wet clay. I leave it mixing for about 10 minutes or until it has become a smooth pulp.

Then, I add the rest of the bag of clay in small pieces and let it mix until smooth.
 
     
 

 

As it is mixing, I put old newspapers down on the floor and cover them with an old bed sheet. I scoop the blended clay onto the sheet and let it dry until it is the consistency I like to work with. When ready, I seal it in plastic bags.

***A Note here on ageing of paper clay.

Yes, you will get black fungus and odor from old paper clay as the paper fibers dissolve.
Some people add a tablespoon of bleach to the wet clay but others find this very irritating to their skin when they try to work with the clay.
I usually make enough paper porcelain for a couple of months.

A good idea for those who always want paper clay on hand is to flatten the paper clay into sheets and let it dry.
It is quick and easy to add water whenever you need some.

 

 

 

I set out to hand build with the Southern Ice paper clay just as I would any other clay body. It turns out that Southern Ice is a very friendly clay when mixed with paper.

 

I was able to create forms and transfer them to a shelf to air dry with only the rims protected to control drying.

     
     

They dried evenly with only two cracks appearing. They were easily mended with additional paper porcelain and no new ones appeared after firing.

The body with less paper was strong enough to survive casual handling of the greenware.

I was also able to repair cracks in fired pieces and refire them. Some practice is needed to make these repairs but you could succeed most of the time.
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Carving into the clay was much easier with the lighter paper load.
They stood up well, so I would recommend only 1/2 roll per bag of clay if you want to carve or texturize the finished pieces. I would not use more than one roll per 22 lbs. for normal handbuilding.