Texts on Porcelain and Bone China

Here’s a list of books on porcelain and bone china (topics are both how to use the materials as well as their histories). I’ve tried not to include any “collector’s guides.” Happy reading! My favorites are *ed. Let me know if you have a title I should add.

BOOKS

*The Arcanum, Janet Gleeson

*Porcelain and Bone China, Sasha Wardell

The Complete Potter: Porcelain, Caroline Whyman

Contemporary Studio Porcelain, Peter Lane

Masters: Porcelain: Major Works by Leading Ceramists, Suzanne JE Tourtillot

Chinese Ceramics: From the Paleolithic Period through the Qing Dynasty, Barnes and Pengbo, et al.

Clay, Light, and Water, Margaret O’Rorke

Porcelain (Ceramics Handbooks), Jack Doherty

Porcelain Stories: From China to Europe, Emerson, Chen, and Gates

The Story of Imari: The Symbols and Mysteries of Antique Japanese Porcelain, Goro Shimura

*A Cup of Light, Nicole Mones

The Worship of Kiln Gods: From the Temples of China to the Studios of Western Potters, Martie Geiger Ho

ARTICLES

Coming later…

Recipes for Porcelain Clay Bodies

Here are a few recipes for porcelain clay bodies (casting, throwing, and sculpture).  Test them before you use them!

CASTING

Cone 10
NDSU’s porcelain casting slip:
EPK 46
Silica 34.2
Custer 19.8
*deflocculate with a combination of sodium silicate, Darvan #7, and soda ashCone 6-10

 

Kitty’s porcelain casting slip:
Kaolin 42
Custer 36
Silica 22
Water 34
*Darvan #7 to deflocculateCone 8-9

 

Porcelain casting body
Flint 20
Feldspar 36
Kaolin 30
Ball clay 14Cone 6-8

 

White/Off White Porcelain casting body
Bone ash 35.7
Kaolin 29.3
Silica 21
Potash 14
Sodium carbonate 0.3%
Notes: shrinkage 12.5%Cone 6-9

 

Porcelain casting body
Soda feldspar 44
Georgia kaolin 33
Silica 18
Whiting 5
Sodium carbonate 0.4%
Notes: shrinkage 10%

 

THROWING

 

Porcelain (throwing, handbuilding, non-translucent, plastic)
Grolleg 55
Custer 18
Flint 16
EPK 9
Pyrax 2
Bentonite 2
Molochite, 200 mesh or finer, 3 

Reeve’s Porcelain (throwing, translucent)
Grolleg 40
Custer 34
Flint 26
Macaloid 4
*I haven’t used this in a while, but I seem to remember its being very short.

 

Alfred’s Porcelain (throwing, translucent)
Grolleg 50
Kona F-4 30
Flint 20

 

Cone 9
Porcelain body
Grolleg 50
Potash feldspar 25
Flint 25

 

Cone 9-10
Porcelain body
Potash 27
Grolleg 45
Bentonite 6
Flint 26

 

Cone 9 (Tom Turner)
6 Tile 75
Kaopaque-20 38
Kona F-4 60
Silica (200 mesh) 60
OM4 12
V gum T 4
Ceramictalc 10AC 4

 

Cone 8-12
Porcelain body
Ball clay 27
Kaolin 27
Potash 27
Flint 19

 

Cone 10-15
Porcelain body
Ball clay 25
Kaolin 25
Potash 25
Flint 25

 

Cone 6
White-gray porcelain throwing body
Georgia kaolin 40
Potash 25
OM4 10
Tenn #1 6.5
Silica 13.5
EPK 5
Bentonite 2
Notes: shrinkage 14%

 

Cone 8-11
White-gray porcelain throwing body
EPK 40
Potash 25
Silica 25
OM4 7
Bentonite 3
Notes: shrinkage 15%

Cone 10
White/Off-white porcelain throwing body
Kaolin 30
OM4 14.5
Tenn #1 12.5
Potash 20.5
Silica 20
Bentonite 2.5

BONE CHINA

Bone China (unknown firing temperature)
Grolleg 30
Cornwall Stone 20
Bone Ash 40
Flint 10
Macaloid 2
*This is extremely short.

SCULPTURE

Cone 6-8
White/Off white porcelain sculpture body
OM4 32
Tenn #5 32
Fine white grog 12
EPK 11
Fine white sand 8.2
Potash feldspar 2.4
Silica 2.4
Notes: shrinkage 13.5%

Cone 9-10
White/gray porcelain sculpture body
Kaolin 21
Silica 23
Tenn #5 18
Potash feldspar 18
White grog (60-80 mesh) 10
Fine silica sand 10
Notes: shrinkage 11.5%

 

These recipes are provided in faith that those who try them will perform proper tests before usage. The author of this blog is not responsible in any way for failed clay bodies, glazes, slips, or anything else, regardless of where fault may lie. Sources for recipes include Glenn C. Nelson and James Chappell.