Ken Horstman Studios

Magic Water Part Two

In the previous post, Magic Water Part One (see link) I discussed what is magic water.  In this post I will discuss how I use magic water and several links on other ways to use magic water.

The way I like to use Magic Water to attach items is as a slip.  

Step1: Take a cup of Magic Water and put it in a container (one with an air tight seal/lid, so you can close it when to in use)  

Step 2:  I will take clay that has dried and grind in a powder. Or take clay when it is leather hard and use a food grater to grate it to the medium fine side of a grater box.  Then let this clay completely dry.   

Step 3: Add some of the dried clay from step 2 to the magic water from step 1 and mix in the container using an imersion  blender mix until smooth.  

I usually use a consistency of cream.

To use this mixture I score where I want my attachment and brush a coat of the slip to with er or both sides and press together.   I also do the same for attaching handles.

If you want your slip mixture thicker add more clay, thinner add more magic water or regular water or distilled water.  Playing with various thicknesses you will soon discover what works best in your studio  practice.


Here are a couple of different ways studio artists use magic water in their studio practice.

here is a good article from    lakesidepottery.com  also included in the article is making paper clay. It’s very insightful.

Next is Marion Williams pottery and she use the magic water straight which is a method you may prefer and you may find it to be just as effective.


Next I will explore more uses for magic water. 

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