Substitute Raku Clay???

[nschuitema]

I am almost out of my Raku clay, and still have a lot of work I would like to do before I fire next, and I have TONS of stoneware clay. I am going to the beach in 2 weeks and I was wondering if I took sand, and wedge it into the stoneware if that would hold up for grog. I don't have any bisques pots that I could hammer down into tiny pieces because they are glazed.

[Rob Hendriks]

You can add sand to stoneware clay to make the clay more suitable for raku firing.The problem with sand is that the particles are much smaller then the various mesh sizes grog particles.So the sand is less suitable to create an open structure of clay needed for thermal shock firing.I think it depends also which kind of work you want to raku fire.Stoneware clay+sand works for small items but will give problems with larger or thick work.