How much does The Clay Lady's Clay shrink?

Standard Ceramic publishes 6.5% total shrinkage at cone 04 — so a form that must finish at 10 cm is thrown at about 10.7 cm. Batches vary; measure a test tile from your own bag before committing a production run.

What cone does The Clay Lady's Clay fire to?

Standard Ceramic rates it from cone 06 to cone 04. Fired above its range a body can slump or bloat; fired below it, it stays porous and glaze fit is unpredictable.

Is The Clay Lady's Clay food safe?

Food safety is a property of the fired glaze and the fit between glaze and body, not of the clay alone. A well-vitrified body (low absorption) with a stable, tested glaze is the usual functional combination; test your own.

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Clay body · by Standard Ceramic

The Clay Lady's Clay

Product code 100 · Cone range cone 06 – 04

Published specs

As published by Standard Ceramic. Shrinkage is total (wet to fired); absorption is water absorption of the fired body — the closer to 0%, the more vitrified.

Cone	Shrinkage	Absorption
cone 04	6.5%	12.5%

Cone range: cone 06 – cone 04
Grog: None listed
Maker-suggested uses: Low Fire Clay

What the numbers mean at the wheel

Throwing size

At 6.5% total shrinkage, a form that must finish at 10 cm is thrown at 10.7 cm; a 4-inch mug is thrown at about 4.28 in. Half an inch of the pot disappears in the kiln.

How vitrified

12.5% absorption at cone 04. Below about 1% is fully vitrified stoneware or porcelain; 1–3% is typical functional stoneware; earthenware sits well above.

Clay for a batch

Fifty 450 g mugs with 10% trim waste need about 24.8 kg (55 lb) of clay — 2 boxes of 50 lb. Same for any body; what changes is how much of each mug ends up on the shelf.

Comparable bodies

Bodies in the same firing range with the closest published shrinkage and absorption — starting points for a substitute, never a drop-in. Test.

Body	Maker	Cone	Shrink.	Absorp.
10 White Talc FreeEM100	Laguna Clay	cone 06	8%	11.5%
R-2 RedEM343	Laguna Clay	cone 06	6%	10%
Laguna WhiteEM330	Laguna Clay	cone 06	6%	16%
RedEM207	Laguna Clay	cone 06	6%	9%
Terracotta SculptEM215	Laguna Clay	cone 06	6%	17%
WhitewareEM342	Laguna Clay	cone 06	6%	17%

Questions

How much does The Clay Lady's Clay shrink?: Standard Ceramic publishes 6.5% total shrinkage at cone 04 — so a form that must finish at 10 cm is thrown at about 10.7 cm. Batches vary; measure a test tile from your own bag before committing a production run.
What cone does The Clay Lady's Clay fire to?: Standard Ceramic rates it from cone 06 to cone 04. Fired above its range a body can slump or bloat; fired below it, it stays porous and glaze fit is unpredictable.
Is The Clay Lady's Clay food safe?: Food safety is a property of the fired glaze and the fit between glaze and body, not of the clay alone. A well-vitrified body (low absorption) with a stable, tested glaze is the usual functional combination; test your own.

Working with clay generates respirable silica dust. Wet-clean, ventilate, and wear a NIOSH-approved respirator for dry work; read the manufacturer's SDS for this body.

This information is provided for planning purposes and is derived from publicly available sources including OSHA regulations, NIOSH guidance, and manufacturer safety data sheets. It does not constitute professional safety advice. Consult your material suppliers' SDS documents and applicable local regulations for authoritative safety guidance.

Sources. Specs are the manufacturer's published values, read from the product page on 2026-08-17; nothing else on that page is reproduced. Throwing sizes and batch weights are computed by Claybench with the same formulas as our free shrinkage and clay weight calculators.

Claybench keeps this body's shrinkage on every form you plan

Add a clay body once; throwing sizes, drying times and clay-per-batch follow it through the studio.

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