How to color clay?

Sometimes it's fun to work with clay in a different color. Clay however does not come naturally in many different colors so you can color it yourself with pigments or body stains.
For the European Streetteam challenge I wanted to make some bats so I needed black clay & decided to make it myself.
Here is what you need:
Black body stain, a mask, a scale, gloves, white/grey clay, paper

Weigh the amount of clay you want to color.

Put a piece of paper on your scale and weigh the amount of body stain you want to add.
For black I use more then other colors because I want to make sure it's really black and not a greyish black. I used 4 grams to 200 grams.

Put on your gloves and make a little bowl out of your lump of clay.
(my apologies for the bad quality of these pictures)

Put the body stain in the little bowl.

Fold the bowl close and start kneading carefully so that not too much body stain falls out.

When the clay starts getting too dry, add a bit of water and knead well so that the body stain really mixes with the clay.

This is how it looks when it's ready to use.

Clay dries out really fast, so I usually hold it in a plastic bag and I wrap the part that I'm working with in a damp cloth.

I use a mould that I made to make the bats.
Take a little clay and press it into the mould.

Make sure that it's filled up nicely.

Take a piece of moist clay and press it onto the filled mould and 'pull' the bat out.

I think it came out nicely.

Hey look, small and big ones! :)

And here is how they look when they are fired.
Hey, they turned out grey instead of black! :(
I definately need to use more black body stain next time.
Well, that's what experimenting is all about! :)

Do you want to see how the colored glaze came out? Check it out here! :)

How to make colored glaze?

The easiest way to get a glaze is buy a ready made one in your ceramic supply shop. For those who like to experiment a bit more, you can mix 'em yourself.
That's what I often do. It's a bit more work but it's cheaper and the surprise is bigger when you open the kiln! :)
I never tried to make a red glaze yet so I decided to try if it would work with red iron oxide.
Here is what you need:
Transparant glaze powder (also that you can make yourself but at the moment I use ready made), oxide/pigments/stains, a sieve with a very small mesh, water, containers with a tight lid, a protective mask, a brush, a spoon, some paper and a scale.I usually make small amounts so I can make a test tile first. Weigh 100gr of transparant glaze powder.
Then add pigments, body stains or oxides. All three have a different effect on the color. While the result of pigments or body stains are more obvious, the use of oxides is less predictable. So sample tiles are in order before making large amounts.
I usually take 3 or 5 grams to 100 grams of transparant glaze. For the red glaze I'm trying to make right now, I'm going to use red ironoxide and I take 10 grams to 100 grams of glaze because I'm afraid that I will get a pink result if I use less.
Put a piece of paper on your scale and weigh the pigment, body stain or oxide on the paper.
Then add the color to the glaze.
Add water & mix the glaze.
Then put the glaze through the sieve in a container. Using the sieve prevents lumps and makes sure that the color is mixed well with the glaze. I use my brush to push it through the sieve.
When you're done, write a label on your container so you know what you mixed.
Then make a sample tile and fire it. If it's too dark, add more glaze to it or a bit of tin oxide (which makes it lighter).
This is the result when it's fired... ouch, not quite what I had in mind! LOL
More experimenting is in order for sure! :)