Natural clay

[Prtam]

Hello everyone. I'm new here. My name is Richard. Although, I've explored many other mediums (colored pencil, oils, acrylics, and pastels), I've never worked with clay. However, I recently found a bunch of natural clay (and debris free) in the river that borders my property. It seems malleable and I would love to make something with it. The clay is a white-gray. At present it I'm keeping it moist. Does anyone happen to know if this clay is usable or how to make it usable? If I get to work with it, I will definitely post the results here.

Thank you in advance,

Richard

[Prtam]

It looks like no one knows, or my question didn't make sense.. Thank you anyway for considering my post. There is a University down the road from me. The art department may have the answers.

[Rob Hendriks]

Your question make sense, but it is hard to say without testing your clay for what type of ceramic work it is usable.Commercial clays are often a mix of divers ingredients,those ingredients are found on different places.For example; if the clay doesn't have enough plasticy, another clay (Ball Clay) is added to it.Another point;It is also hard to say without testing at which temp. your clay is going to melt(if you want a higher melting point add for example kaolien to it).You need a kiln to test the clay,but you can also dry the clay and make a powder of it. By adding sawdust,paper,and wood glue/wallpaperglue you have a selfhardening clay without need for a kiln.

[Prtam]

Rob,

Thank you. You told me exactly what I needed to know. I did not ask correctly. I was wondering if I needed to test it or just use it.

Thank you.

[sculpturedolls]

Hi Richard,

I remember years ago on this forum, another member found clay but his had debris and rocks in it which he cleaned out. It's been so long ago I don't remember how he extracted that out of it. But anyway, yours doesn't have debris in it so that is good.

Definitely you'd need to do tests before knowing how hot to fire. Some clays mature at a lower temp than others. Stoneware, porcelain, earthenware are some of the different clay types and fire at various temps.

The color of the clay doesn't tell all as to what temp to fire to. I've seen a white grey clay be a stoneware clay type and fire to Cone 8. Also, a white grey clay fire to maturity at a lower temp of Cone 06.

What happens if a clay is overfired? The clay will literally melt and can burn a hole in the bottom of the kiln. I'd play around with your clay and make a little pot or fun item and then fire to Cone 018 just to start out with. That's only a china paint firing, a very low temp firing but will give assurance that the clay will fire and won't melt even at the temp for some reason. (My advices are without experience in firing natural clay straight from a dig- keep that in mind!)

Next fire to Cone 06 and how the clay reacts to that. You could then go hotter to Cone 04 or skip that and go up to Cone 2 .

Have fun with it and tell us how it goes! Welcome here to the clay forum!

[saje]

i have done this before. i dug the clay out of a pit in the field. first i liquified the clay by using a variable speed drill and a three blade mixing blade. a painters blade will probably work. break the clay into smaller bits and just add water until it is a slurry.

use a aluminum screen (screen door) and pour the liquid through the screen to get the large solids out. the consistency of the liquid clay can be adjusted as your patience allows. if you can find a higher mesh screen this will allow you to have a finer clay.

after this put the liquid clay in lidless containers. i used 5 gallon buckets. let the slurry sit and it will naturally separate. pour the liquid off of the top. do this until you get to a consistency for the job you are doing.

i have cast the clay without using any chemicals. letting it go longer will get you to a slab clay. my clay fired red but was grey when pulled out of the ground. as the others have said you must do a couple test firings to see what temperature it fires at to get the best results. i would guess you could do a stoneware firing with knowing something of North Eastern US clay deposits.

i personally feel the clay i harvested has a totally different character than industrially processed clay. any other questions i missed, give me a holler, thanks

[Simonduff]

You need to test it first for the ceramic work.You can use your clay in many ways.. like if you wish to do something new then you can try to make a sculpture as well.
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