Egyptian Paste - What the heck is it?!

Hello all :) I started this blog because in my online research into Egyptian Paste i have often found it extremely difficult to secure reliable and steadfast information into the intriguing medium that is Egyptian Paste. In the past year i have become increasingly interested in this clay medium and i have learnt a lot about it, so i thought it would be nice of me to try and share some information with you all. But firstly, what is Egyptian Paste? Well Egyptian paste was first thought to be used over 7000 years ago by...you guessed it; the Egyptians. It was mainly used to create small ornaments and and jewelry that were placed in houses and tombs. However the most interesting thing about Egyptian paste is not it's origins but itself.

Egyptian Paste is a self glazing material, as opposed to other forms of clay that have to be fired with glazes added, Egyptian paste is a 'self saucing pudding' so to speak. It is very high in salt which is the reason it does this. However it has a low firing temperature. Similar to that of earthenware, the recipie i use calls for a firing of 1000C but depending on your recipe or even your colourants this teperature may have to be ajusted. Egyptian Paste also has a very short consistency and is very short to work with. These days commercially mixed pastes are available and are a lot more user friendly. However there are various ways of making homemade pastes easier to work with which i will discuss in more depth at a later date.
The Egyptian paste body is a mixture of sad, clay, feldspar and sodium. the sodium is the key in creating the self glazing aspect as during the drying process the salts rise to the surface and act as a flux, glazing the body and allowing it's low firing temperature to be suitable for vitrification. However because the entire body salts the paste needs to be dried and fired on stilts or even grit (Although i do not recommend grit because it sticks to the glaze leaving a poor effect) Beads can be fired easily on element wire to allow full glaze cover.

The basic Egyptian paste recipes i have seen all have these ingredients in them in one form or other. (Although i have seen pastes that call for no clay elements, although i find them to be quite Matte and not as shiny as i prefer, but it is all up to personal taste)

• Some type of clay, for example ball clay or china clay.
• A salt element such as sodium bicarbonate or Soda ash.
• Feldspar
• Sand

The amounts of these materials varies but the recipe i use calls for;

• 39% - Nepheline Syenite
• 37% - Silica
• 6% - Soda Ash
• 6% - Sodium Bicarbonate
• 6% - Ball clay
  
• 6% - Kaolin/China clay
  
• + 2% Bentonite to help with elasticity

This recipie was created by Sylvia Hyman and found in a book called Colouring Clay by Jo Connell. It is a brilliant bok for anyone interested in coloured clay materials, methods and tips. I highly recommend it! This recipe fires to 1000C and works very well. The pictures in this post are all made by me using this recipe.

The colourants i use include;

• Copper Carbonate
• Chrome Oxide
• Copper Oxide
• Maganese oxide
• Commercial Red and Yellow

The percentages vary quite a bit so once i have organised my images i will post again with more detailed colouring information. Hpwever the Colours below were commercial Yellow at 10% and Copper Carbonate at 2%. Half were fired in an electic kiln and half in a wood kiln so that is the reason for the varying shades.

For now this was just a small introduction into what i know about this exciting material. Do not hesitate to comment if there are any questions or if you'd like me to talk in detail about something specific. Next time i will talk more about colourants and ways to increase plasticity, as well as the potential in making large objects rather than just beads.

I hope you enjoyed. Until next time :)

Rosie