If you read the first post in this series, you know the main rule I keep coming back to: stay within the same supplier. Everything here is Standard Ceramics, fired to cone 6. These are the combinations I've been testing since then: more bodies, more patterns, and a wider range of forms.
The Bodies
Before getting into results, here's what I was working with across all these experiments:
266G Umbria w/ Grog - very dark, near-black after firing. The grog gives it texture that reads beautifully against smoother bodies.
760 Speckled Clay - fires to a warm olive/khaki. One of the most versatile bases I've used for neriage because the speckle adds visual complexity even in solid areas.
365 English Porcelain - the white workhorse. Used plain, with Mason Stain Delft Blue, and with a speckle additive.
182 Angel White - a softer, more muted white than 365. With a smaller percentage of Mason Stain Delft Blue it fires to a dusty slate blue rather than a saturated cobalt.
420 Brooklyn Red - a rich terracotta-adjacent body that deepens considerably after firing.
547 Red Sculpture - similar red family to 420 but with more texture. Fires to a warm brown-red.
Experiment 1: Patchwork and Stripes. Same Bodies, Two patterns
The first two pieces use the same five bodies (266G, 760, 365 plain, 365 + MS Delft Blue, 182 + MS Delft Blue) assembled into completely different patterns, a tight mosaic/checkerboard and a loose swooping stripe, and the fired results look different from each other.
The mosaic vase, built on the Estela Vase template, comes out graphic and structured. The Delft Blue in the 365 fires to a saturated cobalt that holds its own against the near-black Umbria. The Speckled Clay reads as warm khaki and adds a middle value that keeps the palette from feeling too high contrast.
The stripe version, built on the Ruffle Vase template, is much more gestural. The same blue but in a smaller percentage reads lighter and more fluid when it's in long sweeping lines rather than small patches. The white areas dominate and the overall result feels almost like brushwork.
This was one of the clearest demonstrations I've had that the pattern structure changes the perception of the colors, not just the aesthetic, but how saturated and how light or dark each body appears to read.
Experiment 2: 547 Red Sculpture + 760 Speckled Clay
A simpler combination, and one of the more surprising ones in terms of how much the bodies shift from bisque to cone 6.
In bisque, the 547 is a bright salmon/terracotta and the 760 is a cool grey-green. After firing, the 547 deepens into a warm brown-red and the 760 moves to olive/tan. The contrast actually increases in the kiln -- the bisque pieces look similar in value, but the fired pieces are clearly distinct.
The outside of 547 was left unglazed and the inside and rim go with clear glaze, which I'd recommend for this combination. The 760 is glazed with clear glaze. The texture of both bodies is part of what makes it work.
Experiment 3: Terrazzo with 266G, 760, and 365 + Speckles
This one uses the Birdhouse template and a terrazzo-style pattern, small irregular pieces of 365 English Porcelain with speckles and 266G Umbria scattered across a 760 Speckled Clay base.
The fired result is quieter than you might expect. The Umbria spots go very dark, the porcelain spots stay white and slightly textured from the speckle, and the 760 base reads as that same warm khaki. It ends up feeling more like a natural stone surface than a classic terrazzo. The Birdhouse form works well for this since the flat cylindrical walls give the pattern room to read.
Experiment 4: 420 Brooklyn Red + 365 + MS French Green
This combination surprised me the most. Two percentages of French Green Mason stain were used, a saturated amount and a small percentage. The small percentage fires to a muted dusty teal, something closer to sage with a grey undertone. Against the 420 Brooklyn Red base (which fires to a deep warm brown), it's a combination I wasn't sure would work and ended up being one of my favorites from this batch.
Also used on the Birdhouse template, with two pattern types on the same piece, horizontal stripes across the body and scattered flower motifs on the cap. Having two pattern structures on one form is something I want to keep testing.
Experiment 5: Mugs with Flowers and Stripes Inlay
The mug experiments use 547 Red Sculpture and 266G Umbria as base bodies, with 365 plain and stained as the inlay. The before/after here is dramatic. The raw clay shows a clear red/grey contrast that after firing becomes a much richer dark brown/near-black combination.
A few things worth noting from this batch: the 365 inlay stays crisp and white even against very dark bases. The flower and stripe motifs (tested separately on slab panels) both transferred cleanly to the curved mug walls with no cracking at the joins, which isn't always a given with this technique on functional forms.
What's Coming
The next experiments move away from flowers, stripes, and terrazos into something different: using clay as thread. One uses a woven coil structure with blue and white coils interlaced before flattening into a slab. The other builds a grid by crossing vertical and horizontal lines of different clay bodies. More on both of these in the next post.
A Note on the Palette Swatches
Each combination in this post has a corresponding swatch showing the approximate fired color of each body. These are as accurate as I could make them in post, but fired clay color varies with kiln, firing schedule, and glaze. Use them as a reference, not a guarantee.
