Plainsman Polar Ice Wet Clay

Polar Ice

Highlights

• Polar Ice is much, much more plastic that other competing products we are aware of. And there is no need to age it to make it better.
• It is likely more expensive (or much more expensive) than others you have tried.  The white plasticizer used is twenty times more expensive than any other ingredient in the recipe.  Other manufactures have chosen to minimize its percentage to keep costs and price down.
• Polar Ice is more likely to be too soft and need stiffening. This is a necessity to being able to mix it properly with its high percentage of plasticizer.
• It likely has a lower firing shrinkage. This is a product of our use of less feldspar.
• It has a higher drying shrinkage, up to 7% (other porcelains will likely be 5.5-6.0%). This, again, is a product of the higher plasticity.
• Drying performance may be worse or better. The higher shrinkage makes cracking more likely but the higher dry strength resists it and the higher plasticity enables making ware thinner and more even. Our experience is that with proper procedures and routine you will lose very few pieces.
• It fires whiter. This is likely a product of our choice of feldspars and the high quality plasticizer.
• It is more translucent (the reason for this is proprietary).
• It is stickier. But the stickiness is much less if the water content is reduced before use.
• It dries slower (because of the high plasticity).
• It sets in the box. When you first feel it you will swear it is too stiff. But it isn’t, once you start moving it softens dramatically.

This body employs New Zealand Halloysite, the whitest burning kaolin available in the world. To that it adds the highest quality ceramic plasticizer available in the world. The full throwing version is a no-compromise product. It is the most translucent, the strongest, the whitest and the most plastic clay body you are ever used! At the same time it dries well.

Plainsman moist clays are water-based and packaged in a 20 kg (44 lb) box. Each box contains two individually bagged 10 kilogram pugged blocks. Plainsman Clays are ready to use out of the box, no preparation is required.

We try not to ship wet clay when we have freezing temperatures, but we cannot account for weather elsewhere on its journey. If you purchase wet clay in the winter months, you assume the risk of it freezing in shipment.