Practical Drying Tests
A couple of largish greenware (unfired) test pots from 100% wild clay. Both of these were dried inside with the AC, but uncovered to see how they would do. They didn’t crack. The red bowl …
Category: Wild Clay
Wild Clay aka local or dug clay post related to finding, processing and testing
Backyard Red Stoneware
This clay comes from the banks of our red clay ditch that started out as a cattle trail 50 or so years ago. It’s what I call my “non-sandy” deposit. It’s still sandy, just not …
Moon Clay (Moon Community)
I did not have to put this clay in the dewatering tub. It settled enough on its own that it didn’t need it. I only rough screened this clay (window screen). It dewaters extremely fast …
Playing with Plasticity (ie varying sand amounts)
You know how you’re trying to solve a problem and finally come to a solution and think wow, that’s so simple, I should have thought of that ages ago?? My clays are sandy. Recently I’ve …
More Testing on the Sandstone Clay
The Sandstone clay is a sandy Clay that I dig right next to my house. Previous tests have shown that I need 14-15% added Nepheline Syenite to flux it down to cone 6. That’s more …
Testing the Sandstone Clay
This is a clay that is right next to my house. Super easy to access and easy to process. I first located this clay last year and did some initial tests then got side tracked …
Power Sieving Clay
You know that spot between sleeping and awake where you sometimes have eureka moments? This was one of mine. I was dreaming about a rotary sieve and got this idea. This is a harbor freight …
Destroying the Plasticity of Clay
Why would you want to destroy the plasticity of a clay? To eliminate cracking when drying in either a glaze or a clay body. This was the result of trying to destroy the plasticity without …
Settling Clay that Doesn’t Want to Settle.
This is my lightest colored clay. After processing and sieving, it can stay in suspension for months. I generally add something to help it settle (because waiting months to work a clay just sucks). I …
You Can’t Guess with Wild Materials
I never would have guessed, from the amount of sand in this body, that it would craze. Never in my wildest dreams and yet, here we are. This is my latest dug clay and one …