Egyptian Paste

Egyptian Paste
by Robin Hopper
Invented by the Egyptians some 7,000 years ago,

Egyptian paste is a body containing little or no
clay, which can be modeled, carved into simple
forms, or pressed into molds. Egyptian paste is ba-
sically a self-glazing, low-clay modeling material.
It has a high silica and high soluble alkaline flux
component and an abnormally low clay content.
The soluble salts of soda ash, sodium bicarbon-
ate, potassium carbonate, and lithium carbonate
migrate to the surface during drying, developing
a powdery white scum. This scum melts during fir-
ing to form a glazed surface and a highly glassi-
fied core structure to the body. Colorants may be
mixed into the basic pastes and stains or oxides
that produce strong color when used with highly
alkaline materials work best. These would be main-
ly copper, cobalt, manganese, ochre, and rutile,
and the mixtures of these colorants. The tempera-
ture range for firing Egyptian paste is between Finished necklace by Isabel Denyer, Egyptian paste,
cone 012 and cone 04, usually in oxidation. precious-metal clay, porcelain, silver, 2008.
The BAsic Formula oxides are added directly to the batch. Historically,
copper oxide or copper carbonate, which give a
In formulating Egyptian paste, keep the clay content beautiful turquoise color, were the colorants typi-
low to allow for sufficient glass-forming material to cally used. About 3% will give a strong blue. Cobalt
be present and to give an open, porous structure that oxide, manganese oxide, or many commercial
will permit the migration of soluble ingredients to the stains may also be used.
surface. The material will contain about 60% of non-
plastic ingredients such as silica, sand, and feldspar.
Clay may be added in amounts up to about 20%. At
Working With Egyptian Paste
least 10% of some soluble soda compound is neces- At best, Egyptian paste is relatively non-plastic, and
sary. Soda may be added as soda ash, bicarbonate the forms made with it are usually simple. Bentonite
of soda, borax, or combinations of these. Coloring can be added to partially overcome this difficulty.
Mix the Egyptian paste to the consis- Dry the paste into a dough-like con- Cut the paste into small objects or
tency of pudding. sistency and roll into coils. beads using a thin metal rib.
©2010 Ceramic Publication Company

Jewelry or small sculptures made this way may be
very beautiful in surface and color. Beads may be
fired strung on Kanthal or kiln element wire in the
kiln, which will prevent the slight scar that occurs
if the bead is placed on a kiln shelf. (Such scars
can be minimized if the shelf is dusted lightly with
alumina hydrate or calcium carbonate.) Different
colors on the same piece may be achieved by in
laying pastes with various coloring oxides.
Firing of the self-glazing Egyptian paste should be
done on wire stilts (see Supply Room page 10–11)
or, in the case of beads, strung on longer lengths
of metal wire The wire can be slightly crimped with
needle nosed pliers to avoid any shifting of the
beads. This loaded wire may be arched, the two
ends being stuck into a piece of porous insulating
brick and the whole placed in the kiln for firing.
Recipes to Test
In addition to the following recipes, a commer-
cial Egyptian paste body is available in yel-
low, green, mauve, and black from Amaco at
www.amaco.com.
Egyptian Paste
Cone 016
Nepheline Syenite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 %
Ferro Frit 3134 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Silica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Sand (50-Mesh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Tennessee Ball Clay #1 . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Anhydrous Borax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Soda Ash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Bentonite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
100 %
Egyptian paste may be colored by mixing the following into the dry body:
Above left: As Egyptian paste dries, soluble salts form a white
Deep Blue: Cobalt Carbonate 1% powder on the surface.
Turquoise Blue: Copper Carbonate 3% Above right: These salts, when left untouched, form a glaze
Green: Chromium Oxide 1% when fired.
Below Left: Cone 010 Egyptian paste with 2% cobalt oxide.
Mix well and sieve to 60-mesh or finer while dry. Add a small amount of water
and mix to a dough-like consistency. Below Right: Cone 016 Egyptian paste with 3% commercial
green stain.
Egyptian Paste
(from Robin Hopper) Egyptian Paste
Cone 08 (from Ceramics Today)
Feldspar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.0 % Cone 010 - 06
Silica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.0 Soda Feldspar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 %
Kaolin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.0 Silica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Ball clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.0 Ball Clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Sodium bicarbonate . . . . . . . . . . . 5.5 Soda Ash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Soda ash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.5 Sodium Bicarbonate . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Calcium carbonate . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 100 %
Fine white sand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.0
Text excerpted from The Ceramic Spectrum by Robin Hopper. Isabel
Bentonite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 Denyer images from Ceramic Jewelry published by The American
100.0 % Ceramic Society.
©2010 Ceramic Publication Company

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Egyptian Paste

Invented by the Egyptians some 7,000 years ago,

©2010 Ceramic Publication Company

©2010 Ceramic Publication Company

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