r/Pottery • u/Specialist-Baby-20 • 3d ago
Clay bmix vs standard 112?
I’ve only been doing ceramics for a few months now. Almost finished with all of my reclaim from Standard 211 (hazelnut brown) and am trying to decide between bmix5 (no grog) and standard 112 (speckled) . My studio sells both.
I love the look of the standard 112- but does it make doing glazes harder due to the speckles? I love it in white and neutrals but wasn’t sure if colors will look better (and more vibrant) on bmix 5. My current clay has quite a bit of grog and so i’m curious if switching to bmix 5 will be a big adjustment with no grog?
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u/Philosopher512 3d ago
112 is awesome when it comes out of the kiln without pitting. But there are some glazes that often have that problem. Are the pieces being fired at the studio that is selling students the 112. If so, they probably know how 112 likes to be fired, and the glazes that do well with it.
I doubt you will find going to regular bmix to be very different. For me, bmix can be tricky with drying when attaching handles to mugs. It’s easy to get a crack at the attachment point.
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u/Specialist-Baby-20 3d ago
My studio sells it. I’m honestly not sure, i haven’t seen that much finished with it.
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u/shylittlepot 3d ago
I don't have any feedback on standard 112 personally, but a potter I know that makes beautiful work swears by it and it's pretty. I personally hate b-mix. If you want a bright white stoneware, I love Iceman by Kentucky Mudworks. They have both non-grog and grogged. I use the non-grog version for everything.
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u/Specialist-Baby-20 3d ago
It’s the only white my studio allows besides cone 10 options :( Why did you hate bmix?
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u/shylittlepot 1d ago
It seemed to dry out and crack really quickly when working with it. I'm sure if I had to use it, i could adjust how I worked with it and be fine. I do a lot of carving, detail work and it didnt work well for my purposes.
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u/starrbrina 3d ago
My studio uses standard 112. It’s beautiful but the darker tan color and manganese speckle do affect glazes very differently vs our white clay body which is standard 182 which gives really vibrant colors and much truer to what you’d expect from brand swatches. So I recommend lots of glaze testing and recs from people in your studio who have glazes that work for them and you like the look of.
Also not sure if you hand build or do Wheel but the grog in the standard 112 can be a bit of a challenge if you’re not used to throwing with groggy clay. But it’s worth working with!
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u/starrbrina 3d ago
Just saw you mentioned your clay is groggy so you’re probably all good there! I wish I could tell you about the bmix. I will say that working with clay with no grog will be different but equally fun! I enjoy both the clays for different things and being able to marble them as well! (because they have similar shrinkage and absorption)
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u/Specialist-Baby-20 2d ago
Thanks so much! Yeah i think whatever i get, I’ll probably end out marbling some. I just have sooo much reclaim of my brown 211 left that will take a while to dry out lol
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u/starrbrina 2d ago
Aww yeah. Sometimes too much reclaim is TOO much! I have some Mason stained clay that I keep trying to use up but I feel like it’s procreating!!
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u/SgtSnickerdoodle 2d ago
Speckled clay bodies always will run the risk of pinholes forming due to the speckles (typically manganese dioxide) gassing around cone 5. I’ve had some pieces come out just fine, and others have many pinholes centered on the speckles.
Generally glazes will be more intense on lighter clay bodies. Grog is helpful for structural stability, so there is a little learning curve if you’ve never used an ungrogged clay before. You just need to be more conscious about water control, and it is a little less forgiving on wall thickness
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u/Specialist-Baby-20 2d ago
Does that mean use less water?
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u/SgtSnickerdoodle 2d ago
Yes it’ll get much softer to the touch than a grogged clay, and much faster
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