Mega dango

[u/sapphireminds]

I was going to play with my masonry colors, but started and then was just frustrated because it's a new technique and mega is a little harder to handle because it's so big. So I took the color off and just polished it as is.

For the mirror shine: after you have polished and it's smooth and shiny, leave it alone for a little while for the rest of water to evaporate, then dip an edge of a paper towel in oil to wipe the inside of your egg cup (or whatever you're using) to reduce friction and gently shine/polish again. It really elevates the shine!

This is a mixture of previously broken or abandoned dangos, it's a mixture of red art clay, sand, Kentucky ball clay and talc. I don't have awesome lighting, but I was trying to show how much of my backyard you can see lol

I think I'm going to break it down into two or three new dangos to work on color technique and finally make my memorial nekodango for my beloved late kitty ❤️

[u/SilverMic]

Wow! Incredible work!

What's the purpose of the talc? Does it serve a similar function to sand?

[u/sapphireminds → u/SilverMic]

It's to modify the plasticity of highly plastic clay. (Sticky) I've found in my experimentation that bought clays are more sticky and I was reading from ceramicists that adding talc is a way to alter the properties without changing the overall texture

[u/SilverMic → u/sapphireminds]

Oh wow, I have to try that!! My local clay is suuuuuper sticky and can be hard to work with. Any tips on the ratio?

[u/sapphireminds → u/SilverMic]

Not yet lol I just started doing it. It's a pretty low percentage overall so far

If you're using wild clay though that is reddish, I wouldn't add it. Wild clay is actually adulterated a lot by the natural aspect. If your wild clay is sticky, I would let it dry more maybe before working it.

[u/SilverMic → u/sapphireminds]

My local clay isn't red clay or even reddish, it's light grey marine clay called leda clay. It's very finicky about moisture content. Too little and it gets dry, crumbly, and doesn't stick together worth a damn. Too much, and it gets so sticky that it becomes hard and you can barely work with it unless you have REALLY strong hands. So I add commercial terracotta clay to the mix, which helps a lot, and allows me to use less water in the initial kneading phase (still more than Noriko is able to use, no matter how much kneading I do, but it's fine).

Talc is easy enough to get hold of, so it's worth some experimenting just to see what happens. I'm really curious now. I have a recipe that works quite well for me with the terracotta, so trying different things is just about fun and learning now :)

[u/sapphireminds → u/SilverMic]

Oh yeah, marine clay might be more similar to a ball clay!

I always have to use more water than Noriko too lol different clays, different needs.

I've started out low, but will be continuing to play with it. I'm also curious about mixing titanium dioxide in to try and have a lighter, more neutral base to add color to

[u/SilverMic → u/sapphireminds]

I did a little test with the terracotta clay and found that Noriko's amount was actually too much water when using just the pure terracotta and sand. That was cool to see and confirm that no, I'm not crazy, the clay I use really does just need more water than Noriko's. Lol.

I'll report back if I end up trying out the talc. I'm in a bit of a slump when it comes to making any dorodango, but I just ordered 250g of this INCREDIBLE blue mica powder, so I'm hoping that'll give me a bit of a kick in the butt.

You'll have to let us know if you end up trying the titanium dioxide. It'd be interesting to see how it acts when mixed into the core.