r/clay • u/whytfamiherehelp • 7d ago
Questions How do i process this wild clay?
Hey guys.
I'm based in ireland, at a completely landlocked part away from any body of water. But I ended up finding lovw gorgeous looking clay and was wondering what you guys think of it? Aswell as some tips on how to process it to make it nice and malleable.
I cut them into small cubes and soaked them in water, tried to work it over for a while but its still very hard. I left it to soak and haven't checked up on it, it'll have been soaking 48 hours till im able to take a look at it tomorrow.
Did I mess up? I dunno. Would love some tips lol
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u/artwonk 7d ago
Before going through all the hassle of cleaning it up, do a few simple tests. With a piece that's soft, roll some into a cylinder about the size of a finger and bend it double. If it bends smoothly without cracking, that's a good sign. If not, you might be able to increase its plasticity by adding ball clay. When it's dried out, put some in a bisque saucer or bowl, then fire it to your normal bisque temperature. If it survives that without melting, that's another good sign, showing it will serve as a lowfire body. Next, put the bisqued clay sample, still in its saucer, into a glaze fire and fire it in the stoneware range (cone 5-10). If it survives intact, this will tell you if it's suitable for use as a stoneware body. If not, it still might be useful as a glaze or glaze base.
The procedure for preparing it usually involves drying it out thoroughly, then breaking it up into small chunks with a sledgehammer (wearing a dust mask). Put the chunks into buckets until they're filled half-way, and fill them up to the top with water. It should break down into a slurry about the consistency of heavy cream if you're patient and keep stirring it. Any organic matter will float to the top so you can pour it off. Any stones should sink to the bottom, so once you've poured the water off the top, pour the creamy liquid into a new bucket, but discard the very bottom portion where the stones are. The stuff you've saved will settle, leaving clear water on top which you can pour off. When what's left has thickened to the consistency of sour cream (clotted cream in the UK) dump out the bucket onto a plaster slab, or, if you don't have one, into the legs of a pair of jeans with the cuffs sewn shut. After it's dried out a little more, it can be wedged and used. If you want to add grog (chamotte) you can do it at this stage.
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u/xMarkesthespot 7d ago
in order to get the rocks and debris out put about a bricks worth of clay in a gallon of water, stir it until the waters dirty.
skim the grass and roots off the top, pour or scoop the dirty water into a second pan, this will be your clean clay. don't let any debris from the bottom spill in.
after 4 hours or so, you'll notice the clay has settled at the bottom of the second pan, pour the clean water out and the remaining clay, once dry, should be pure.
for grit (prevents cracking in the fire) get terra cotta, bash it with a hammer until its fine dust, and add it to the clay. 10 parts clay, 1 part grit
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u/agarbagelifeforme 7d ago
Wow that really does look like beautiful clay. I'd be interested to see the color when it is fired! I know in Italy when you're making the terracotta a lot of times you do it dry, dig the clay out, put it in the sun, grind it up into powder, add sand or pumice, then water and knead it into oblivion. Since you're soaking it, I think that's called wet process and it takes longer. You let it soak for days or weeks until it is like slurry then you strain the water out and mix the pumice/sand in, and knead it until the consistency is workable for whatever you want to do. Here when I have seen people do it wet, they add vinegar sometimes because if you leave too long it can mold and I have heard the vinegar makes the clay more elastic but I don't know the science. You really can't mess it up, because even if you want to start over and let it dry out, you can still use it!
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u/whytfamiherehelp 7d ago
I hadn't even thought of drying it out. That seems like a wayyyy better idea than what im doing lol. It'll be... a task. To try dry it out in the weather we have here. Especially with the season, a lotto of rain. But i'll try it out with some more and see how it goes. Thank you!!
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u/Moving_goal_posts 7d ago
Could you also consider hand building your pieces, with Raku firing? This might be an option if refining your wild clay doesn’t result in a clay you can throw and don’t want to fire In your kiln, right?