PROCESS to rework good clay that becomes too dry to use.

Processing
self-dug clay follows below and is shown in the photos to the left on this page.
1. Clay must be totally dry. There is no need to break up dry

clay.
PRECAUTIONS:
Be sure it has no plaster chips in it - plaster causes pop-outs
when bisque fired. Leather hard clay or moist clay does not
slake well because it is not porous like dry clay is. Instruct
students to handle the dry clay without making dust. A lot of
airbornedust is not healthy to breath.
see health hazards page
2. Flood clay with clear water (or drop it into water) in something
like garbage cans. Use enough water so clay is totally under
water.
3. Never stir it. Stirring clogs up the porosity and prevents
good slaking (soaking to mush).
4. In a few days, even huge chunks of dry clay will slake to mush.
Go to step 6 below.

SELF-DUG CLAY VARIATION

If you dig clay yourself, it often has impurities that need to be
removed. Most kids love to help with this and there are few better
learning experiences. If you are a teacher, invite students to bring in
samples for testing. If it works well, ask them to bring more.
1. Let the clay become totally dry.
2. Slake it as described in 3 above.
3. When it is all soft and mushy, stir it until it is a slip. I use a
mixer on an electric drill or a blunger. Add water if needed to
liquefy it.
4. Pour the slip through ordinary window screen available at any
building supply store.
5. The screening removes stones, roots, and other trash that
causes trouble. The chief culprit is limestone. Limestone, like
plaster, pieces cause pots to break after firing.
6. When the clay has settled and turned to mush, remove extra
water from top. Dip water off or siphon it off.
7. Spread the mush a few inches thick on clean dry porous
surfaces. I use, dry plaster, clean concrete, canvas, denim,
etc. Smooth the top to avoid getting small dry pieces on the
surface.
8. If you want it to dry faster, use a fan and/or set it all on a wire
rack to allow air under it.

9. When it is nearly dry enough, I make coils as thick as my arm

and set them around like big arches (a foot tall) and they are
ready to wedge and use in 24 hours or less. This clay can be
stored forever in an airtight plastic.
In ancient China, potters stored moist clay in caves for the next
generation to improve the plasticity of the clay. If it is to be
stored long-term, double wrap it. Double wrapping in plastic
bags from the supermarket works. Students can bring in
hundreds of these.

notes on digging clay

WHERE IS CLAY? - Check stream banks, construction sites, roadway
cuts, and any place that gets slippery after a rain and sticky as it starts to
dry. When dry, it is nearly rock-hard. Many of us can find clay under the
topsoil in our back yards.
PLASTICITY - Some clay is too sandy and some is too sticky. When I
prospect I look for clay that can be rolled between my hands into a pencil
thick coil of soft clay and wrapped around my finger without cracking. If
the coil cracks, it may be too sandy or its clay particles may be too large.
Sticky clay tends to be cling to my hands too much. It will often have
severe drying shrinkage and tend to crack during drying. Potters often
blend several clays to get the right properties. See photos on left.
Commercial clays can be added to balance the mix. Commercial ball clay
adds plasticity (so it is less apt to crack when bending it). On the other
hand, crude ground fireclay, china clay (kaolin) fine sand, and/or grog
reduce plasticity (make it less sticky and shrink less). Do a web search of
"ceramic chemicals and clay" for sources of commercially available clay
types near you. See photos on left.
IMPURITIES - Most common clay contains impurities, often in the form
of iron oxide, sand, roots, and other debris. Troublesome impurities can be
removed by making a thin slip. The sand settles to the bottom first. Allow
the sand to settle a short time. Then decant the clay water (the good slip
from the top down to the sand) and discard the sand in the bottom. Allow
the clay (slip) to settle and process it as described in the 9 steps above.
Iron impurities are very common and not easily removed. Iron gives it the
reddish brown color when fired and causes the clay to melt more easily. It
may not work for stoneware, but most common clays are fine for
earthenware. Most of it will fire to cone 05 without problems.

GOOD USES OF IMPURE CLAY - Potters who make high fire stoneware
sometimes add small amounts of impure local clay to their clay body to add
character and blemishes. I regularly add some common brick clay to add
character to my pottery. Color and iron spots look more natural and give a
warmer feeling. Stoneware potters also use local clay as a source of glaze
material. These "slip glazes" have been used for thousands of years for
lining jugs and traditional crockery.

Outdoor FIRING BASICS top of page

Responsible Adult Supervision is Required
Never leave an outdoor fire unattended
Never fire if there is any chance of a wildfire
Have emergency fire quenching equipment on hand
Leave the site cleaner than you found it
Obey all laws and codes
WHAT IS FIRING?
Clay becomes pottery at temperatures over 1,000 degrees F (the beginning
of glowing red heat - about 540 C). Common tribal earthenware is fired to
about 1,400 degrees F (760 C). Heat removes the molecular water in the
clay. This heat converts clay molecules to pottery, sculpture, brick
molecules that do not dissolve in water. Glazed pottery and modern brick is
fired in kilns to temperatures ranging from 1,800 F to 2,400 F. Most
common clays start to deform and melt if they are fired higher than about
1,900 F. Modern toilets are fired to about 2,400 F.
In tribal settings it is common to use an outdoor bonfire type of firing that
is fueled with enough wood kindling under the pottery to exceed red
glowing heat during the burn. The stack of pottery is above the wood and
the pottery stack is covered with a thick layer of natural material like tall
grass, animal dung, etc. to hold the heat in. This insulating layer also burns
toward the end of the firing. In many cases this insulation-fuel layer is
covered with a thin crust shell. This shell can be made of a clay/sand/straw
or grass mixture. One air hole is provided at the top of the mound and
several openings are provided around the bottom so the wood burns with
enough gusto that the clay gets red hot. The openings around the bottom
provide a place to ignite the wood and allow adequate combustion air to
enter. The top opening needs to be large enough to allow rapid air flow to
enter at the bottom and small enough so the heat is contained.
BREAKAGE
Experiment and learn. If pots break it may mean they are too thick or the
clay needs some opener. Sand is an opener. It allows the moisture to steam

to escape at the early stages of heating. Steam pressure is what breaks most
pots.
Modern electric kilns have a very prolonged heating stage at 200 degrees F.
This is just below the point at which moisture turns to steam. The clay gets
totally dry before it hits the steam forming temperature. This prevents the
clay explosions that often happen when clay is heated to too rapidly.
If you do not have a kiln, it may work to use a kitchen oven set to 190
degrees F. Pots can be totally dried by "baking" below the boiling
temperature of water for several hours in a kitchen oven just before firing
them in a primitive no-kiln firing.
Native clay generally fires to look like common clay flowerpots. Some
potters burnish it (rub the nearly dry pieces with a polished stone or back of
a spoon). Some Native American potters make beautiful polished black
pottery from self-dug clay. Black is achieved by smothering the fire at the
end with ashes so that no air reaches the hot pottery and the carbon from
remaining fuel blackens the pottery. Typically, tribal pottery is not glazed
and is fired without kilns. Sometimes the potters use colored and white clay
(slip) to decorate.
Clay that is thick or not dry enough often explodes as moisture turns to
steam when it heated rapidly. If this happens, make it thinner, dry it better,
heat it slower at first, and/or add something like sand to the clay to open the
clay body more and let the steam out.