Laguna Clay · WC401

B-Mix

cone 5/6 25 lb bag Shrinks 12% Fires cream

The one people fall in love with on the wheel. Almost porcelain-smooth, cream when it comes out, and it gives you the glaze color the jar promised. It asks for slow drying and honest compression in return, and it is not the bag for anything big.

B-Mix Clay 25 lb bag · cone 5/6 · in-studio pickup

What is your membership level?

$36.00 $1.44 per pound

Green level pays full price on clay.

How many bags?

In-studio pickup only. We do not ship clay. Buy it here, then show your receipt to a staff member and they will walk back with you for a fresh bag.

A 25 pound bag of B-Mix clay from The Clay Hole Twenty-five pounds. It is light gray in the bag and cream out of the kiln, so do not judge the color until it is fired.

Before you buy it

Is B-Mix your clay?

This is the throwing clay people get attached to. It is also the one that will punish you for rushing. Here is the honest split.

Buy it if

  • You are on the wheel and you want the best throwing feel in the building.
  • You are making mugs, bowls, cups and plates you actually intend to use.
  • You want the glaze to come out the color it was on the chip.
  • You are using bright color, pastels, celadons or crystalline glazes and you need a light body under them.
  • You want crisp rims, clean carving and no grit in your fingertips.
  • You are ready to dry your work slowly instead of racing it to the shelf.

Buy something else if

  • You are building anything large, tall or heavy. Laguna does not rate this body for large work at all.
  • You are sculpting. There is no grog and no sand in this bag to hold a form up.
  • You are in a hurry. This clay cracks when it dries unevenly, and Utah air dries things unevenly.
  • You are joining big thrown sections together. Grab B-Mix w/Grog for that instead.
  • You want warm, earthy, iron-driven glaze results. A cream body gives those less to work with.
  • You are making a lot of practice pieces and price is the point. 52 Buff is $8 a bag cheaper.

What it is best at

Where B-Mix earns its keep.

Laguna rates this body for tableware, ovenware, wall tile, floor tile, wind chimes, jewelry, sanitary ware and crystal firing, at small and medium scale. Large is not on that list, and that is not an accident. The grogged version of this same clay is rated for large, and this one is not.

Wheel throwing, small to medium

This is the whole reason people buy it. Laguna calls the texture a pleasure to throw and form, and they are not overselling. It centers easily, pulls smoothly and holds a clean wall.

Tableware and ovenware

At 2.3% water absorption it closes up tightly in our firings, which is exactly what you want under food and liquid. Laguna even rates it for sanitary ware, which is about as serious a functional rating as a clay body gets.

Crisp detail and clean edges

Smooth texture means carving stays sharp, stamps read clearly and a trimmed foot comes off crisp. Not quite porcelain, but much closer than anything else at this price.

Crystalline and specialty glazes

Laguna specifically lists crystal firing as an application for this body, and we stock the Coyote Crystalline and Amaco Kiln Ice families. A pale body is what lets those crystals actually show.

Hand building and slab molds

It works, and it is rated for small and medium hand building. It is just less forgiving than a grogged body: seams need real compression and slabs need to dry flat and slow or they curl.

Large forms, sculpture, joined sections

No. Nothing in this bag is holding weight up. If your plan involves height, mass or stacking thrown sections, B-Mix w/Grog and Half & Half are both on the shelf and both rated for it.

The nerdy part

The numbers, and what they actually mean.

These are Laguna’s published figures for WC401. The translation underneath each one is ours.

Maker Laguna WC401 B-Mix 5, the mid-fire version of Laguna’s famous cone 10 B-Mix. It has been the clay people learn to love throwing on for decades.
Cone cone 5, fired to cone 5/6 Rated at cone 5 and perfectly happy in our cone 6 firings. Everything in the studio goes to the same place.
Wet color Light gray The bag looks gray and slightly cold. That is not what you are getting. Do not judge this clay until it has been through a kiln.
Fired color Cream A soft warm white in our electric kilns. Light enough to let glaze color read true, but not the stark white of a porcelain.
Texture Smooth Laguna describes it as a porcelain texture. No grog, no sand, nothing to catch your sponge or your fingertips, and nothing holding a big wall up either.
Shrinkage 12.0% A fifth more movement than 52 Buff. More distance between wet and fired means more opportunity to crack, which is why the drying section below matters on this clay.
Water absorption 2.3% Tight. This body closes up properly in our firings, which is what makes it a real functional clay rather than just a nice one to throw.
Bag size 25 lb About fourteen average mugs, or six or seven decent bowls. There is a cost calculator further down that does the math at your level.
Laguna’s use list Small and medium Tableware, ovenware, wall tile, floor tile, wind chimes, jewelry, sanitary ware, crystal firing, throwing small and medium, hand building small and medium.

Straight answers

What is great about it, and what is not.

What it does well

  • It throws better than anything else here.This is not a close call and it is why people pay the extra eight dollars. It centers with less fight, pulls evenly, and stays where you put it as long as you have not drowned it.
  • Your glaze comes out the right color.A cream body does not tint what goes over it. Blues stay blue, pinks stay pink, and a celadon actually looks like the sample instead of a warmer cousin of it.
  • It is a genuinely serious functional clay.2.3% absorption plus ovenware and sanitary ware ratings means mugs, bowls and bakers made from this will hold up to real use.
  • It takes detail.Carving stays sharp, stamps stay legible, trimmed feet come off clean. Close to porcelain without porcelain’s temper.
  • It is rated for crystal firing.If you have been eyeing the Coyote Crystalline or Amaco Kiln Ice glazes, this is the body that lets them do their thing.
  • It is lovely bare.Sanded after firing it goes smooth and warm-white, and because it is tight it holds up better unglazed than the more open clays do.

What it does badly

  • It cracks when you rush it.This is the single most common complaint about B-Mix anywhere, and it comes straight out of the spec sheet: twelve percent shrinkage with nothing in the body to relieve the stress. Uneven drying finds every weak spot.
  • S-cracks in the bottom.Smooth, plastic, no grog. If the floor of a thrown piece does not get properly compressed you will find a curved crack in it later, and you will find it after you have already glazed the thing.
  • It cannot go big.Laguna does not list large throwing or large hand building for this body. They do list both for B-Mix w/Grog. Same clay, one has grog, one is rated for the work you are planning.
  • It gets floppy if you overwater it.A smooth plastic body drinks water fast on the wheel. The fix is a rib and less water, not more water and more force.
  • A cream body shows everything.Dark clay dust from someone else’s Berlin Gray, a fleck of iron off a tool, a smudge from an unwashed bat. It all shows up as a spot after firing. Clean hands, clean tools, clean surfaces.
  • It costs $36 at Green level.Eight dollars a bag more than 52 Buff. Worth it for work you care about, hard to justify for a night of practice cylinders.

Glazing it

The clay that tells the truth about color.

Every glaze chip in the studio was photographed on a light clay body. B-Mix is a light clay body. That is the whole story here: what you see on the chip is close to what you are going to get, which is not something the tan clays can promise.

What pops on it

Celadons
Amaco CeladonsCoyote Celadons
Celadons are transparent, so they show you whatever is underneath them. On a cream body that means the actual celadon color: clean aquas, real lavenders, honest greens. This is the single biggest reason to pick B-Mix over a buff clay.
Bright and pastel color
Stroke & CoatSpeedball Mid-FireAmaco VelvetCoyote Vibro-ColorAmaco Satin Matte
Reds stay red and pastels stay pastel. No white underglaze base coat needed first, which saves you a layer and a firing’s worth of guessing.
Crystalline and crystal-effect
Coyote CrystallineAmaco Kiln IceAmaco CosmosCoyote Constellation
Crystals need a pale background or they disappear. Laguna rates this body for crystal firing specifically, so this is the pairing to try if you have been walking past those jars.
Soft mattes and satins
AlabasterWhite MatteLilac MatteWintergreenAzuriteRiptide
The pale end of the Mayco Stoneware Matte family. On a tan clay these go muddy. On cream they stay quiet and clean, which is what they were designed to do.
Layered and reactive glazes
Amaco PhaseCoyote FantasyCoyote Archie’sSpectrum Texture
Anything that moves and separates in the firing reads more clearly against a light background, because you can actually see where one color ends and the next begins.

What fights it

Iron-driven glazes
PC Ancient JasperPC TemmokuShinosSpectrum Floating
These borrow iron from the clay underneath them to get their depth. B-Mix has very little to lend, so they come out flatter and paler than the same jar over 52 Buff or Speckled Buff. Not ruined. Just less dramatic.
Glazes that rely on breaking Half the drama of a break is the darker body showing through a thin edge. On a cream clay that contrast is small, so carve deeper or throw with more texture if you want the effect.
Anything applied over dirty clay This is the practical one. A pale body records every contaminant. Wipe your bat, wash your hands after handling a darker clay, and do not roll a B-Mix slab on a table someone just used for Berlin Gray.
Thick single-dip clear A tight body absorbs glaze more slowly than an open one, so a dip that would have been perfect on 52 Buff can go on heavy here and run. Count your seconds.

Satin or glossy?

Either, honestly, and that flexibility is part of what you are paying for. Gloss is the choice when the color is the point: a cream body under a glossy celadon or a bright is as close as this studio gets to a color-accurate result.

Satin suits it beautifully too, especially the pale Mayco Stoneware Mattes and the Coyote Satins, where you want a soft modern surface rather than a shine. Keep the inside of drinking vessels glossy regardless, because gloss cleans better.

Is it beautiful naked?

Yes, and it holds up better bare than the buff clays do. At 2.3% absorption it closes up tightly in the kiln, so an unglazed surface is far less thirsty than 52 Buff’s. Sanded smooth after firing it goes a soft warm white that reads much more expensive than it is.

Half naked is where it really works: glaze the inside and let the outside stay raw, or wax a band at the foot. Bare clay is fine to fire here. Still glaze the interior of anything holding liquid, because tight is not the same as sealed.

Combinations worth trying

Potter’s Choice over Celadon Snow Amaco publishes layering charts built on exactly this: Celadon Snow or Mixing Clear as the base, a Potter’s Choice over the top. On a cream body the results land much closer to the chart photos than they do on a tan clay.
A crystalline over a pale satin Coyote Ivory Crystal or Crystal Celadon over a quiet satin base. The crystals need somewhere plain to land, and this body plus a pale base gives them that.
Underglaze drawing under clear The classic. Amaco Velvet or Speedball underglaze straight onto bisque, then a clear gloss over it. On B-Mix you skip the white base coat entirely, because the clay already is the white.
Blue Rutile over a white liner Coyote Gloss White Liner inside, Blue Rutile outside. The clean interior makes the moving blue on the outside look deliberate rather than accidental.
Texas Two-Step Coyote’s undercoat and overcoat system was built for exactly this kind of body. Brick Red or Mulberry underneath, Marshmallow or Sea Mist over the top, and the separation is crisp because nothing is tinting it from below.
Amaco Phase on a smooth thrown form Floating Lavender or Teal Drift want a smooth surface and a light ground to pool against. B-Mix gives them both, and the clean thrown lines give the movement something to follow.

Where these came from. These pairings come from the glaze makers’ own layering guides and from what potters consistently report on light bodies. They are not photographs of a shelf of B-Mix test tiles from this studio. Fire a test tile before you commit a piece you care about, and go dig through the Glaze Bible and our glaze combination resources while you are at it.

Getting it to the kiln in one piece

This is the section that matters on B-Mix.

Twelve percent shrinkage, no grog, no sand. That combination is what makes it throw like a dream and it is the same combination that cracks it. Nothing here is difficult. It just is not optional the way it is on the grogged clays.

1

Compress the floor, then do it again

The curved S-crack in the bottom of a bowl is the signature B-Mix failure, and it is always the same cause: a floor that got stretched during opening and never got pressed back together. Rib it firmly while it is still wet, and go over it a second time before you pull the walls.

2

Dry it slow and dry it even

Loosely tent the whole piece with plastic for the first day or two, especially rims and handles. Even is the word that matters more than slow. A mug that dries fast all over survives. A mug with a dry rim and a wet base does not.

3

Keep your walls one thickness

Thin dries first and shrinks first, and it pulls against whatever thick section is still holding water. On a body with this much movement, an uneven wall is a crack with a delay on it. Trim to even, not just to pretty.

A wheel note while we are here. B-Mix goes floppy faster than the grogged clays if you keep adding water. When a wall starts feeling soft, the answer is a rib and less water, not more water and more speed. It will come back if you let it firm up for a few minutes.

Full walkthrough if you want it: how to dry your pottery.

Keeping it alive

B-Mix in a desert.

Utah air pulls water out of a bag faster than most people expect. B-Mix has a particular problem with it: a smooth, plastic body that has gone stiff is much less pleasant to bring back than a grogged one, and stiff is exactly what kills its best quality.

Close the bag the second you are done

Not at the end of class. The second you cut what you need. The whole reason to buy this bag is the way it feels, and a dried-out skin on the block is the fastest way to lose that.

Only cut off what you are using

Every cut face is a fresh surface losing water. Slice one piece, close the bag, leave the rest of the block whole. Do not ball up the whole bag on day one.

Push the air out

Air sealed in the bag is still air drying your clay. Squeeze it flat against the block before you close it.

Use it fast

This is not a bag to buy and store. Clay is happiest going from the shelf to your hands to the kiln without a long stop in between, and that is doubly true for the one you bought for its throwing feel.

When it has already gone hard. Beat it. Throw the block down on the ground hard a few times, turning it between throws, or slam wedge it on the table. It will come back, though B-Mix takes more work to revive than 52 Buff does, so it is worth not letting it get there.

If it is past saving on the wheel, do not bin it. Stiff B-Mix is still good slab mold clay, and a mold does not care how hard it is. Never fight hard clay on the wheel. It is bad for your wrists, your hands and your back, and throwing is about touch, not strength.

Plan it before you throw it

The B-Mix shrinkage calculator.

This clay shrinks 12% between wet and fired. On a tall mug that is most of an inch, and it is the difference between a pint glass and something that holds a bit less than you promised somebody.

Wet measurement, in inches

Works for height, width or diameter. Measure the wet piece while it is still on the wheel or the table, before it starts drying.

Out of the kiln 4.40 in A 5 inch wet piece finishes about 4.40 inches. You lose 0.60 in.

What a bag actually buys you

Cost per piece.

A bag of clay is 25 pounds. B-Mix is eight dollars more than 52 Buff, which sounds like a lot until you work out what it costs per mug.

What are you making?

These weights are studio averages for a piece thrown at a normal thickness. Heavy throwers get fewer pieces, and there is no shame in that.

Cost per finished piece $2.57 At Green level, one $36 bag makes about 14 mugs.
$36.00 One 25 lb bag at your level
14 Pieces per bag
$10.29 Clay cost for a set of four

Clay only. Glaze up-charges, kiln firing fees and your membership are separate.

All eight, side by side

How B-Mix stacks up.

Prices follow the level you picked in the buy box. Tap any clay to go to its own page.

Clay Fired color Texture Best at Shrinks Price
52 Buff Warm buff tan Slightly coarse Mugs, bowls, tiles, hand building, slab molds 10% $28
B-Mix w/Grog Off white Very fine grog Beginners, joined pieces, bigger forms, and raku 11% $32
B-MixYou are here Cream Smooth, porcelain-like Tableware, ovenware, tile, jewelry, a pleasure on the wheel 12% $36
B-Mix w/Specks Warm white, speckled Smooth Everything B-Mix does, with specks coming through the glaze 12.5% $36.50
Speckled Buff Desert tan brown, speckled Smooth, low grit Wheel throwing, warm earthy work, a reduction look in an electric kiln 12% $40
Half & Half White Smooth Large sculpture, multi-section wheel throwing, white functional ware 12% $40
#16 Porcelain Very light gray white Very smooth Fine detail, carving, slab forming, true glaze color 13.9% $44.50
Berlin Gray Cement gray to dark gray Impalpable grog Throwing and modeling smooth pieces with fine detail 12.4% $49

Berlin Gray comes in a 27 lb vacuum sealed bag. Every other clay here is 25 lb.

After you buy it

How you actually get the bag.

Clay is not sitting out for anyone to grab. Once you have paid for it, a staff member goes and gets it with you, so you always leave with a fresh bag rather than the one that has been open on a shelf.

1

Buy it here

Pick your level, choose how many bags, and check out. The receipt lands on your phone straight away.

2

Show the receipt

Pull the receipt up on your phone and show it to any member of our staff. That is the whole check.

3

They go with you

A staff member walks back with you and hands you a fresh bag of B-Mix.

Go throw something you keep.

Nothing else in the building feels like this on the wheel, and nothing else gives your glazes a cleaner shot at coming out right. Give it slow drying and a compressed floor and it will hand you the best work you have made.

Buy a bag See all eight clays