You Like Us! You Really Like Us!

I know that a lot of people say they never read their reviews, I call shenanigans. Maybe it is just me but I think that we all care about what people think about what we do. Especially when we get praise. It is exceptionally Pavlovian to seek out those good reviews. The great thing about Porcelain for the People is that the good reviews are easy to find because we have yet to have anything less than a glowing review.  Today we have a great one from Beth over a About.Com:Pottery.

Review of "Porcelain for the People" Clay

 

4 1/2 Stars

 

The Bottom Line

Bottom line, this is a great high-fire porcelain clay body. It is easy to work with on the wheel and handbuilding. The color is a beautiful pure, warm white. It has an incredible firing range (cone 7 - 12, although the manufacturer says it is best at cone 10).

Manufacturer's Site

Pros

• Extremely responsive clay body; elastic without losing strength or becoming sticky.
• Beautiful bright white color, just ever so slightly on the warm side.

 

Cons

• I wish they had a mid-range version. This clay is high-fire, cone 7 to 12.

 

Description

• True porcelain clay body, not white stoneware. Fires a lovely, just slightly warm white in oxidation.
• Workability is incredible. Elastic, strong, and responsive. Not stiff or sticky like most porcelain bodies.
• Firing range is from cone 7 to cone 12, with cone 10 being optimum.
• Packaged in 30 pound "sausages." A smaller sample package is also available.
  

Matt and Dave's Clays has a definite winner here. This porcelain is the most responsive and elastic porcelain clay body I've used in years, if not ever. True porcelain bodies (as opposed to white stoneware and low-fire clay bodies) has an extremely strong tendency to be stiff and rather unresponsive on the wheel. Porcelain for the People feels and throws like butter...a truly sensuous experience, especially for someone who is used to other porcelain clays. This clay body didn't happen by accident, either. Matt Katz, Dave Finkelnburg, and Bill Carty are the ceramic engineers (who love pottery and clay art) who comprise Matt and Dave's Clays LLC. In their own words, "Utilizing ceramic engineering we can create bodies that are more rugged, yet responsive to the maker." 

 Cool, Thanks Beth! BTW we do have a Mid Temperature Body (The Coup!)...that is coming soon, I promise.

I also wanted to talk about a few things. There was a discussion that came to my attention over the weekend that presented some questions about our clay. The big question presented was about Filter pressing and Formula. Someone asked as to why we don't disclose our formula? They had asked that if the filter pressing made our body so great then why don't we provide the formula?

We have prided ourselves in providing every single piece of information and analysis that we have generated about our body. In that we have gone above and beyond what any other clay maker has to document the performance and science behind our body. We have done that to give you, the user everything you need to make the most out of our body in your studio. We have created a premium body that performs with flying colors in a wide variety of applications that has never been seen in a Porcelain. That is why we call it the Porcelain that works like a Stoneware. It is the science behind it that makes it so durable and versatile.



Our body is great for two reasons 1) The Filter Press and 2) The Formula. We worked for over 3 years to get the formula to it's amazing state. The science behind it cost us a lot of time and a lot of money. Because of that we are unable to share it. 

Much like the fact that you as a consumer don't have the formula to Coke, Oreo's, or KFC, it not because the company does not want you to try to make it at home. It is because they are a business and they can't allow their competitors to copy them and make money off of their hard work. 

It is true that no one else is producing clay in the filter press, but if they had our formula there is nothing we could do to stop them. They are so big and we are so small that they would put us right out of business. 

I do honestly wonder, and please feel free to respond in the comment section, what information that people believe they would gain if they had the formula? Honestly, as a ceramicist I can not think of anything I would gain if I had the formula for a boxed clay I was using. Glaze fit? That  can not be predicted based on the formula, and we have published our thermal expansion data. Something else?


If there is something that we have forgotten to document, please tell us and we will do what we can to share that information. We have prided ourselves in being as open and honest as possible and we hope that our efforts are valuable to you. As a company, there is one big line that we can't cross, but we want as much as possible to be on the table.


We are proud of what we have created. we believe that it is the best Porcelain that you have ever used. If you aren't a porcelain user, you should give us a try because this is unlike any clay you have ever used. 

We think that the reviews speak for themselves


Emily Schroeder


Kathy King


Jim Gottuso

Ginny Gromer and Heidi Fahrenbacher

Atlanta Clay



Give the Clay a try and we think you will find that our clays are the best you have ever used.