Testing New Stoneware Clays - From Thrown to Reduction Fired

[@AsteroidWrangler]

The Fleck is absolutely dramatic, and I do love the character that it gives your glazes, particularly the medium one.

[@floriangadsby]

It adds more depth, that's for sure. I think I need to see it on a larger scale before I really commit. Think they'll let me order more samples? 😬

[@km12243]

Fleck! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@AtomicShrimp]

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

[@floriangadsby]

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!

[@joyg2526]

I love the sound of the glaze crackling when the kiln door is first opened.

[@kirti3839]

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.

[@Sleepless_Chaos]

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.

[@NeoNovastar]

Listening to you discuss the subtle differences in materials as you work is delightful. I really enjoyed the Fleck look!

[@whisperingeaglelanders2339]

My favorite is the darker Fleck bowls! They are gorgeous ❤❤❤

[@cavemann_]

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.

[@cherylhunt3878]

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!

[@l3d-3dmaker58]

im absolutely in love with the middle right one, the color, the warmth, the light flecks, ohh its just so pretty!

[@dianeuranowski3694]

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

[@jahpedro3971]

I started using fleck stoneware last month really beautiful, it's particularly nice on my teabowls with my porcelain slip and turquoise crackle ,

[@Gersberms]

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.

[@kuurbis]

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.

[@isaiahkepner8078]

Ooh

[@Raisopod]

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.

[@floriangadsby]

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...

[@missvinnet5507]

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 :)

[@mohamedzaki3748]

Finishing and dimensions are brilliant ..... watching your work was a pleasure

[@EchoExchange]

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 ❤

[@minipott]

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.

[@fantinemyriel3145]

Excited to see new clays - always interested to see different choices and techniques, and how they affect the outcome!

[@auberquine]

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.

[@simonebertino8600]

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

[@samatiesse]

I never knew the stone body itself could have such an impact. I like the SSB8G best

[@focalplane3063]

Fleck is the winner, great color and fleck!

[@mercedesgonzalez4105]

You are right,the new clay came out beautiful,looks very much like reduction fire

[@SodiumCl431]

Another great video! I love the balance between education and entertainment that your videos have. Keep it up!

[@_koji]

Congrats on your article in the magazine! Thanks for the video!

[@floriangadsby]

Thank you! Always nice seeing things physically printed - a warm up for when my book is published in September.

[@Certified_Art_Teacher]

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!

[@carolynpearce4829]

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.

[@halcyondaysago]

(dog shake)

[@sophiusdynami3401]

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 :/)

[@jjjessee245]

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.

[@DunoonVanRijn-dx1hr]

I like the darker colour on the New clay body. They are all three great colours with the fleck body

[@JessicaLRoloson]

The ssb8g is awesome I really love the contrast from your standard. The set of 12 shown at the end love the look all together

[@rackikblue]

This is so interesting! Looking forward to other clay tests you do.

[@floriangadsby]

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.

[@ceciliajunqueira600]

I Just really Love these new clays. Dramatic! You should use them for sure except for the one that bent a little 🖤

[@krosskaien8618]

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.

[@neilahalter9663]

I like the fleck best . There all look nice. Thanks for sharing

[@Alex_0Z]

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

[@Mesco-yw9gi]

Fleck has it for me. It's beautiful dark spots really draw in your eye. Thanks

[@regenia8738]

I like ALL of them; your usual and the three with the new clay!

[@twiggy_being]

I really like the character and speckeled look in the fleck clay

[@benedictekaufman1640]

Fascinating, truly. Thank you yet again for a fabulous video. Thank you for sharing. Would you mix one of the clay body with fleck? I did think the speckling was a bit much, but still very attractive.

[@old_pork]

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.

[@lilpixie25]

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 :)

[@illi-the-wolf]

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!

[@juanQuedo]

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 🧠

[@aimeeholloway]

I love the fleck, it adds so much interest

[@kozygeorg]

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? 👀

[@alexandervestergaard7335]

Beautiful bowls, really pretty glazes ❤😱

[@selphyric]

The fleck is gorgeous!

[@laceykirchen1443]

These videos always make me want to head back to the studio

[@mw8392]

The Fleck is especially beautiful. It reminds me of a quail's egg.

[@Crowbar777]

I do like the look of the fleck but it might be overdoing it just a bit. If it could be toned down by about 20-30% I feel like it would really nice.

[@gwentan6776]

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!

[@HandyPaladin]

The Fleck is very nice. I could see you using it as well as your other clays. I thought the results were very interesting.

[@doggo6331]

I would love to see the medium fleck on a bigger form

[@LordRubino]

Love it. The fleck one is stunning. Bellissimo

[@kirstinh3650]

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! 🫣

[@krissader4855]

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.

[@Duckies1023]

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?

[@floriangadsby]

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.

[@peybolariza7482]

I really like the Fleck clay, it feels like an intentional natural "polka" desing , not murky :D

[@morbek1]

I really like the look of the fleck

[@jimjimgl3]

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..)

[@wtechboy18]

big fan of the fleck clay honestly.

[@Ladyoftheroundtable]

if you feel like the fleck is too much, it might be worth mixing it with your usual body in varying ratios to see the effect that has

[@Neetr1ht]

new bowls look so great!!

[@floriangadsby]

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.

[@orejonejo]

the fleck is lovely!

[@thelostbushmanlg1765]

Honestly love you work!

[@thomasafrica9724]

Is that cracking sound coming from the pieces in the kiln? 16:08

[@robbiekavanagh2802]

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.

[@Teetuetenmogli]

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.

[@DunoonVanRijn-dx1hr]

I like the fleck look and darker colour

[@melsyoutube]

i love your experiments!

[@gingeridot]

i love fleck so much!

[@danflurry]

I for one am not complaining about the dog shakes.

[@galacticmechanic1]

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.

[@SenselessUsername]

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?

[@floriangadsby]

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.

[@SenselessUsername]

@@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.

[@marinelademeterio7069]

I like Fleck the most. (And thank you for all the Ciro cameos.

[@chelseatitus]

I love the fleck!

[@shadom]

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.

[@leocrespo-cervantes789]

i wonder how wedging 50 % fleck and 50% of your normal high iron body together would work with the glazes perhaps a more ideal amount of fleck ?

[@father_mae_i]

I *L O V E * the fleck clay!!

[@rath60]

I love the speckling but perhaps you can get a fleck with a touch less iron.

[@Elizabeth-mo3fv]

Love them ALL

[@zaibcom]

Nice

[@finndriver1063]

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.

[@lindacamp8561]

All of them are really beautiful, but my favorite ones are in the middle.

[@DunoonVanRijn-dx1hr]

In fact they are all nice😮

[@spacecowby08p14]

New to the channel, is it common or any reason one might sand the unfired bowls? Or after firing? Could you sand/buff after glazing?

[@JoMaynard-bn4cq]

Your pottery is very good, but I'm afraid your dog is the real star of the show ;D

[@tobiasrankin9606]

Hi, Can you give the details of your usual red clay please?

[@CharlyHamlynCeramics]

Lol, just noticed the sound of Ciro shaking his head in that totally daschund way so his ears smack against his head!

[@NathanThomson]

Ssb8g or whatever is my favorite

[@davedarling4316]

I think I see a lot of pinholes in the Fleck pieces. Is that a concern in a piece used for food?

[@floriangadsby]

Most of them are just surface level, like little divots just above where the iron blots are, so they don't go all the way through. Definitely something I need to test further regardless though.

[@runklestiltskin_2407]

So interesting.

[@ashtincrawford1020]

love fleck!!!!

[@jacobbroe5279]

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:)😊

[@johnbozzelli8867]

what is the cost of 8 of the bowls you made in this vido

[@floriangadsby]

Nine bowls? Well, I usually sell these small ones for £42 a pop, so £378 for them all.

[@SydneyTravellersGuide]

would love to see a video that uses a grog clay and trimming. I find that it trims very poorly. :/