Issues with Clay

Maybe someone out there can weigh in on some thoughts I've had on and off with Helios clay that I've used for years. At times I think I get batches that are....well just not mixed right?

The reason I think this is if I have two bad days of pulling up a tall cylinder I find it odd. I tend to be a pretty quick thrower and since I've worked with porcelain for so long if I open a new bag and can't seem to get a tork out of a 10inch cylinder I'm suspicious of the amount of ingredients that have gone into a specific batch. I've had this happen with other clay bodies as well. Particularly a clay body called Loafer's Glory. I use to use this when it first came out back in school but then, a few years after it started cracking like crazy. So I went back to porcelain.

I'm trying to make some tall bottles and vases this weekend but not having much luck. Yesterday I finally gave up and moved onto some flower blocks. Some clays like to be vertical and some horizontal. Knowing that I can pull a tall cylinder with Helios 90% of the time but not in the last, I'd say 3 days just has me wondering a little bit.

Who knows, it could just be a claygods playing with me. Maybe I need some Mozart going to calm me down.

Speaking of listening to things. Yesterday on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, Neko Case was on and she was hilarious!