Chemical Analysis of Local Kansas Clay and its use in Ceramic Art

摘要

Seeking to learn more about local material and its potential for use in ceramic art,as well as investigating the possibility of replicating the effects of local clay using raw materials to compose a clay body,a sample of locally-harvested clay was sent to CoorsTek Analytical Laboratories for testing.X-ray diffraction and x-ray fluorescence processes were used to determine the chemical contents of the sample.The resulting list of elements was converted into a clay-body recipe using the Unity Molecular Formula to target specific desirable characteristics.The following testing and further experimentation over the course of more than a year has yielded highly promising results which prove to be both useful for my practice now,and have led to inspiring questions for future research.