To measure is to know! You’ve learned that by now when working with clay. Therefore, it is definitely smart to do some preliminary work. Like making test tiles for each type of clay you use. And since clay also shrinks a lot, it is even more useful if you know the exact shrinkage percentage of the clay you are using. You can use our digital shrinkage ruler for this, but of course it is much more accurate to make your own shrinkage test tiles.
How to proceed?
- roll out some clay into a slab about 0.5 cm thick
- cut out rectangles
- let dry
- when the clay is leather hard, using a ruler and a needle tool, draw out a scale from 0 to 10 cm into the clay slab
- also stamp or carve the name of the clay into it if you are working with multiple types
- You can also cut out holes with a little clay drill if necessary, should you wish to hang the tile later on
- let the tiles dry further
- fire in the ceramic kiln
After the glaze firing (you don’t need to glaze the tile), you can measure how much of the 10 cm you have left and thus what the shrinkage percentage of the clay is.
