ceramicARTcART
"PC SUBSTRATES™ are the most satisfying 2 dimensional painting and drawing surface that I've ever found in the world of clay and I've been searching for decades. The reason it took so long is that it just wasn't there before!" Robin Hopper
From Left to Right, 0.25", 0.35", 0.40", 0.80", 0.100"
PC Substrates™ are Highly Translucent at any Thickness.
PC SUBSTRATES, PORCELAIN CANVAS, CERAMIC CANVAS THEY ALL LOOK SIMILAR – SO WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?
In his groundbreaking Ceramic Monthly article, Ceramic Canvas:Using Substrates* artist and author Robin Hopper refers to Ceramic Art Cart as the sole supplier of the substrates he uses, but refers to the material as “Porcelain Canvas” as this is what we called our substrates in the first instance intending to trademark that name.
Following the publication of this article and the launch of our substrates, Robin Hopper and Ceramic Art Cart received many concerned enquiries from potential customers about the well documented issues (such as glaze reactivity) that many artists had experienced with similar substrates from other suppliers. Unfortunately, these substrates were also being marketed under the name porcelain canvas and similar product names.
We have an exclusive arrangement with our manufacturer and we knew that our substrates were different! Working closely with Robin Hopper we immediately changed the product name to "PC Substrates" and put our product through a rigorous testing process to prove the difference!
GUARANTEED NON-REACTIVE:
We joined forces with a number of experienced ceramic artists to test the reactivity of our substrates. These artists used a wide variety of mediums on Ceramic Art Cart’s substrates at various temperatures. Not one artist experienced any degradation of color or any type of glaze reactivity on our PC Substrates. From all reports we can confidently state that our substrates are 100% non-reactive or your money back!
OUR SUBSTATES ARE GUARANTEED TO CONTAIN NO HARMFUL MATERIALS
By law all materials sold for art purposes in the US must conform to The Labeling of Hazardous Art Materials Act and it is the responsibility of the manufacturer or supplier to submit their products for this rigorous and costly testing.
All sizes and thicknesses of PC Substrates have been extensively tested by a toxicologist and awarded the Infotox safety seal which certifies our PC Substrate products as conforming to the mandatory ASTM D-4236 (Lhama) regulations. PC Substrates have been proven to contain no harmful materials and pose no chronic health hazards.
To our knowledge, there is currently no comparable ceramic substrates from any other supplier that has been tested under these mandatory ASTM D-4236 regulations.
ARE ALL CERAMIC SUBSTRATES SAFE?
It is required by law that all products intended as art materials be tested and approved in accordance with The Labeling of Hazardous Art Materials Act. Keep in mind that pre-fired advanced ceramic substrates are not manufactured for the ceramic art market or for consumer use at all - but for industry. A variety of compounds are used in the creation of the large range of ceramic substrates being manufactured for industry, not all of them stable as proved by the reactivity of some of these substrates when used by artists. This poses questions about safety in the absence of the required toxicology reviews, in addition to the nuisance factor with regards to color degradation.
Look for the brand you can trust and use our PC Substrates with confidence!
WHERE TO PURCHASE PC SUBSTRATES?
PC Substrates are exclusively supplied by Ceramic Art Cart and will also be available from selected retailers shortly.
ABOUT PC SUBSTRATES™
Our PC Substrates™ are fully vitrified high alumina ceramic sheets in a range of sizes and thicknesses. They are guaranteed 100% non-reactive, and can be fired mutiple times to cone ten.
Our PC Substrates™ are extremely strong and highly translucent at any thickness. The image at the top of this page demonstrates the translucency. The thinnest (far left) sheet is clearly visible through all the other stacked sheets!
This material has a wide range of hi-tech industrial applications. The high development and manufacturing costs has meant that this material has never been available in sizes or at prices suitable for fine art and design applications - until now!
It should be noted that these substrates may have the occasional tiny flaw. Occasionally a sheet may be cut with a slight skew, there may be a small mark or chip on one side (we hand sort and do not sell any sheets that have marks or chips on both sides) This is the nature of this fallout material. These flaws mean that the material is not acceptable for hi-tech industrial applications, but will not impact the use of the material for artistic purposes.This material is able to be provided at a fraction of the usual cost due to the acceptance of the occasional tiny anomaly. We carefully check each sheet for significant flaws by hand and discard any that do not pass inspection.
PRODUCTS AND SIZES
Due the nature of this material, dimensions of the sheets in stock can vary. The quantity of any one size varies depending on availability, but we will always have a variety of sizes to choose from. If your project requires a large amount of sheets in a particular size, please email us for availability. We can supply bulk amounts at a discounted rate.
Please see the PC Substrate products page for our full range. Sheet thickness ranges from .025" to .100" and sizes in stock generally range from our smallest jewelry blanks .750"x.500" to our large 13"x5.5" or 11"x7.4" sheets.
Ceramic Art Cart is now able to provide sheets of our PC Substrates™ cut to specific sizes with a C02 laser. If you have a particular size requirement and wish to place a custom order please contact us to discuss (minimum order quantities may apply)
*Robins article, Ceramic Canvas: Using Substrates is available to read or download in full from our Books/DVD page. Courtesy of Robin Hopper and Ceramic Arts Daily, Ceramics Monthly.