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This clay normally dries well, but not this time. Strangely, this crack is not at the handle join, it is penetrating into the mug wall. Actually, this is not a crack, it is a split. Excessive slip around the join was not removed, that is bad when a body has larger particles, they permit water left on the surface to penetrate inward and begin a split. An aggravating factor was that the handle was allowed to dry faster than the mug itself, pulling at this join and opening the split even more.
| Glossary | Drying Crack During drying clays and porcelains shrink as they become rigid. When this occurs unevenly, cracks are the result. | 
| Glossary | Particle Size Distribution Knowing the distribution of particle sizes in a ceramic material is often very important in assessing its function and suitability for an application. | 
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