The disclosure relates generally to ceramic slurry compositions that include particle size and/or shape distributions that reduce total and differential shrinkage during a process of forming a ceramic article from the composition. The slurry composition includes, by volume, a ceramic composition in an amount of from about 60 to about 75 percent and a binder in an amount of from about 25 to about 40 percent, plus a platinum group metal catalyst and a dopant, wherein the platinum group metal catalyst is in an amount of from about 0.0035 to about 0.0075 percent by weight of the slurry composition and the dopant is in an amount of from about 0.075 to about 2.000 percent by weight of the ceramic composition. The ceramic composition includes, by volume of the ceramic composition, fine fused silica particles having a particle size d50 of from about 4 μm to about 7 μm, in an amount of from about 7 to about 40 percent; coarse fused silica particles having a d50 of from about 25 μm to about 33 μm, in an amount of from about 29 to about 60 percent; inert filler particles having a d50 of from about 5 μm to about 25 μm, in an amount of from about 8 to about 40 percent; and fumed silica particles, in an amount of up to about 15 percent. A combined volume of the fine fused silica particles and the coarse fused silica particles comprises at least 80 percent spherical particles. The inert filler particles are selected from the group consisting of zircon particles, aluminum oxide particles, quartz particles, and mixtures thereof. The binder comprises 1,3,5,7-tetravinyltetramethylcyclotetra siloxane, methylhydrogenpolysiloxane, or a combination thereof. The dopant comprises an alkali metal cation source, an alkaline earth metal cation source, or a combination thereof. The embodiments provide several advantageous properties, such as reduced total and differential shrinkage, improved core strength, and higher solids loading of the slurry while maintaining compatibility with slurry injection into, for example, a polymer-based 3-D die. In the invention, a method for making a ceramic casting core for a hollow component is also provided, which includes curing the slurry composition to form the ceramic casting core and performing an investment casting process using the ceramic casting core as part of a shell mold-core assembly to form the component.