All three are available commercially in moist ready to use form.
Different types of clay for ceramics.
They contain a large percentage of kaolinite and quartz with around 10 25 mica.
The other advantage of mixing your own is that you can use custom clay body recipes and modify them as desired.
Ball clays occur naturally as sediments or deposits containing very fine minerals.
There are many different types of potter s wheels in use.
The first is economic.
The three most commonly used clay bodies are earthenware clay bodies mid fire stoneware clay bodies and high fire stoneware clay bodies.
I have thrown with cone 5 porcelain 16 hagi porcelain and porcelain five.
These porcelains are not the true porcelains but i still find them to be nice clays to throw with.
Ball clays are the most plastic clays and contain very limited mineral impurities.
While there are thousands of clay bodies available for purchase the 3 basics types are porcelain stoneware and earthenware.
Each of these different clays is composed of different types and amounts of minerals that determine the characteristics of resulting pottery.
There can be regional variations in the properties of raw materials used for the production of pottery and these can lead to wares that are unique in character to a locality.
Moist clay weighs a lot more than dry clay and this is reflected in shipping costs.
Mixing clay yourself offers a couple of advantages.
Ceramic materials are everywhere and in many cases need a high quality clay for their production that is well suited to their intended use.
The maturity temperature workability and color of these 3 categories can vary based on what is added.