Olmec Inspired Personal Work

Here are some examples of how the Olmec influenced my work this past month. These pieces have coated with terra sigillata and then fired to cone 04 and then pit fired.

Here is a recipe for Terra Sigillata from Clay Arts Utah: http://clayarts.websitetoolbox.com/post/easy-terra-sigillata-recipe-1507600 

Recipe for Terra Sigillata

- 10 lbs. dry powdered ball clay (although you can use any dry clay).

- approximately 14 quarts water. Ideally use distilled or filtered water but water out of the tap is fine.

- 1/2 oz. soda ash and 1/2 oz. sodium silicate. Both of these ingredients are very inexpensive but you can substitute 1 oz. Calgon. Sodium silicate comes as a liquid but you weigh the liquid the same as you would a powder.

Use a 10 gallon bucket for mixing. Dissolve the deflocculants (soda ash and sodium silicate) in one cup on hot water. Once dissolved, mix into 14 quarts water and then mix in the clay. Mix using your hand or some type of mixer. If you have a hydrometer it should read about 1.15 specific gravity after it is mixed. Once mixed, put the mixture on a table and leave UNDISTURBED for 20 hours.

After the 20 hours the larger heavier particles have settled to the bottom of the bucket. The terra sigillata is the uppermost, thinnest liquid in the bucket. Use a flexible clear plastic hose to siphon off the thin liquid into another bucket. Make sure you don't agitate the mixture or move the container at any time during the process. Siphon from the top of the bucket and not the bottom. Try to keep the siphon hose tip barely immersed in the mixture - this makes it easier to tell when you begin to reach the thicker material. As soon as you start reaching the thicker material, STOP siphoning. You should have approximately 11-12 quarts of terra sigillata. The thicker material left remaining in the bucket should be thrown away.