Awesome video. I have clay from the creek I got last year. I decided over the weekend to make something and see if I can fire it and they survive. I have watched your video a few times and have it downloaded. I dug a pit and I might fire it tomorrow or wait until Sunday to make sure they are dry. My Dad and Mom bought the land I live on in 1948, 70 years ago. Every thing I do, carve wooden spoons, pottery, etc., comes off this land. I love it and love the adventures that folks like you posts for us to learn by. Thank you!
I apologize for not getting responding to this sooner. Did you fire your pots yet? How did they turn out? And that's great that you have your own land to inspire your creations. Having that sort of personal connection with the land and the things you make from it's resources is a special thing, for sure.
I fired some in a pit. None of them has the ringing sound when you thump them but they are small and I also read they are fired if you put your tongue against one and it "sticks". The sticking is the clay drawing the moisture and it did that. They are just for decor so I am not that worried about it but I have more things drying and will try a different way and perhaps add these back into the fire and hope they don't break for doing them again. Thank you for your comment and I do love where I was born and raised. :-)
Very nice job! Seeing as how you had a 100% success rate, don’t take me the wrong way...I would just make a couple of suggestions. Your actual firing was way longer than needed. You can build your fire up a couple of times until the pottery is red hot and then leave it alone. I have even seen it done with one firing. I do two to be safe. But, once the pot reaches red hot, it is done. No more needed. On another note, I get my pots pure jet black by smothering them completely in dry saw dust as soon as they achieve the red hot stage. This has to be done fast once you start, and stand back and not over the fire as the dust can flame up violently almost like gasoline! It can burn you very badly in an instant! The saw dust floating in the air can make it very combustible! Anyway, Once you get them completely covered with the saw dust, cover the saw dust layer with a couple of inches of dirt just like you did over your pots. The organic material touching the pots burns and the clay sucks the carbon out of the organic materials making the clay black. You can also use dry leaves or dry grass. I have had the best success with saw dust. Keep up the good work!
The various grasses can bring some really neat results with their different mineral content! I made a big boo boo once though: I wanted to try using banana peel for the potassium effects? I didn't DRY the peel, and the pots went kaboom! XD Afterwards, I was like duh, moisture...LOL!
Thank you terry for sharing your knowledge 🙏 I’ve just started experimenting with natural clay, and your comment answered many of the questions that have been floating around in my brain!!
Use dry cow-dung for a beautiful black finish that can be polished to almost a metal appearance. Add it before covering the product with sand in the final steps.
Ha! It seems strange that a process using just dirt and fire could produce something real, but people survived here in this area with this sort of knowledge and skill (although far beyond my own) for hundreds of years.
You are a good demonstrator. Thank you for posting it. I am going to attempt a pit fire this week. I want to eventually pit fire at medieval reenactments (Society for Creative Anachronism) and allow other potters to bring their pots to fire. I only have low fire clay so I will be scaling back the time to fire it. I will try to remember to keep you posted.
Turned out very nice. New to clay and wanted to add it to my primitive skills list. This video coupled with clay collection videos is great. Thank you for taking the time to make this video.
Your welcome, Raul. I'm glad it was helpful. Enjoy the journey. Let me know if you have any questions in the future. I'm still learning, but I'd love to share what's worked for me.
This is awesome. I've been playing around with different fires (bricklined simply campfire - worked great with low-fire quality clays - I got a great result!) I'm going to try digging out the pit like you're doing. So much fun - thanks for showing your stuff Ryan! :) Also, it's weird - I keep seeing folks firing for way longer periods but mine are doing great with about a 4 hour burn average.
It's almost strange how much fun playing with mud and fire can be, isn't it? I'm sure the reflective heat from the brick-lined fire kept your fire nice and hot. I wonder if that's why you got away with a shorter burn time. I might have to do some experimenting now. If you do end up doing a pit fire, please let me know how long the burn ends up taking--you got me curious now.
@@AdventureRyan I know a lot has to do with clay quality, if I mix sand (silicone/glass requires a higher heat right/), a longer/higher temperature is needed. But if I have a fairly pure white or red clay, I don't need that high heat for as long to achieve bisque. This last time, I put a fan on the flames, just really burned the logs fast, right? I figured it would achieve a stronger bisque. But instead of a nice ting sound after the burn, I got a dull thunk and every piece had cracks in them. The only time I need a longer slower cooling period is when I've had to heat to accommodate the silicon elements, so far. Without it mixed into the clay? The higher temps go too far during that initial bisque process. I can even take them out of the coals hot, and wash them in water - I can speed the cooling safely without them cracking. Do that with the silicon/sand requiring the higher temps, those require the longer, slower cool down. And yes - mud and fire rule. I will never, ever grow out of playing with them. :)
I think it's interesting how many micro-variables there are to this. I originally started playing around with firing wild clay because I saw it as an important wilderness living skill, but now that I've dabbled a little, I'm hooked!
Try protecting the pottery with a metal can turned upside down over the pottery. It will protect and cause a reduction environment. Pack flammables around it in the can before you place them in the pit. Never had anything not turn black thru this method. Good luck.
@@007-Bond I believe he's saying to put a metal bucket/container of some sort upside down over the pottery to keep the pottery from getting scratched by rocks that might come in contact with the pottery once you start putting dirt on them.. The metal can will also protect the pottery from breaking if someone were to drive over your now-hidden fire spot of pottery thats buried. But before you put the metal can over your pottery, to surround the pottery with flammables such as saw dust, dry leaves, dry grass, and keep these flammables inside the can area and not outside the can.. so basically you pack the dried burnable organic matter on/around the pottery to make it black and then put your can over it.. the dry organic burnable material will burn slowly inside the can. The can will also keep the color consistent by keeping dirt off of it. The can will also make it easier to dig up the pottery since you wont have to feel around the dirt for your pottery.
Nice Video Ryan! It reminds me on my pit fire video i made a few years ago (to see on my channel). In that experiment, i did cover the fire with ashes and stoneplates to hold the temperature over night and keep oxigene out. Proparly the result was the same like without that. I have to do it again to see the difference. This time without covering it.
Thanks! It’s fun to experiment with this stuff. The stone plates are a good idea, especially if you live somewhere outside of the desert. Let me know how you’re pottery turns out on your next firing.
I just bought some clay and Im thinking of firing it, how long would you say I need to wait before its ready to be fired, also what temp does the fire need to be at?
Yes! I've done that on two separate occasions while camping in Alaska--one time was successful, the other...not so much (those coals got toasty quick!).
I tried this today for the first time and as soon as I put my pots on the coals they exploded ! Don't know what I'm doing wrong? Are your pots biscuit- fired first? 🥺
The pots have to be completely dry before they can be fired. That’s usually the reason they blow up like that. Second, they have to be gradually brought to up to temperature and then evenly heated. Make sure your pit is dry too, before firing anything in it. Usually, while my first pile of wood is burning down I set the pots around the pit and rotated them from time to time while gradually moving them closer and closer to the pit. Before actually putting them in the pit, I pull all the coals to the outside walls and I set the pots in the center. I leave them there like that for a while before adding more wood. One other factor that can sometimes cause pots to break is the amount of temper you have. Every type of clay has different needs, but you usually need some sort of temper (I use sand) to help the pots remain stable during the heating process.
Thanks so much for this information. The clay I used might not have been right, but it did have a heavy grog.I think we call what you call "temper" , "grog" here in the uk. It's very damp here too so difficult to get the earth completely dry but my pots were bone dry. Even though they all totally exploded, I am going to try again. I will use a different clay and be more careful with the heating process. How do you know when they are hot enough to put in the pit?
@@ruthcastle8270 They can also explode if you have too much air bubbles trapped in the clay which means you need to wedge your clay better before shaping it.
One of these days, I'd like to dig a more permanent pit lined with fire blocks. It's been a lot of fun to mess around with and try different things. If you do build a pit at your house--just make sure you give it some good space. These fires get crazy hot!
The amount of space depends on how big of a pit your working with. It's really just basic fire safety, you just have to remember that you're going to be keeping this fire blazing for a good long time, so the coal bed gets very hot. I do have a few more Primitive Pottery that I've made--they're organized into a playlist on my channel if you want to check them out. But yes, I'll probably do more videos on this topic. There's just something awesome about taking a handful of dirt, adding some water, and a bit of fire and ending up with something very functional--it's beautifully primal!
Hi there! I just watched your video and I’m very curious to know about the ingredients you may have used in addition to the clay? You mentioned a process before firing and I’m unsure about that. I found some natural clay in a nearby creek and I’d like to make my own pieces of pottery with it. Can I just filter the clay and use it as is then fire it just like this??
If you purify your clay before use (which I’ve shown in other videos), or if your clay source is already pure (meaning it’s almost 100% clay and not mixed with sand or other types of soil) then you need to add in a certain amount of “temper” which helps the clay during the firing stage to expand the and change the way it needs to without cracking or shattering. I usually use sand, but there are other options. It’s good to do some tests with the clay you have. Mix in different amounts of sand with each sample, try coarse sand and fine sand, and make little pancakes of clay and label them. Then fire those samples and see how they do. Each type of clay behaves differently.
Hi! I want to try this today. My neighbors would freak out if I dug a hole though. Any chance this can be done in my metal fire pit? Do you think it would be ok?
I’ve wondered the same thing-if it would work the same in a metal fire pit. I imagine it would. If I were doing it, I would try to keep my pots from touching the metal itself-even just the coals and ashes from the last fire might help-because I’d be worried about the hot metal heating the clay unevenly in places. If you give it a try, let me know how it works!
Thank you for sharing I think it consuming a lot of wood and time in order to warm it up... What about oven for baking clay if you are doing a lot of clay?! Is it expensive?!
I haven't tried any oven baking, so I don't know much about that. My interest in the pit firing mostly stems from an interest in the methods used by Native Americans in this area. And yes, depending on where you are, it can use up a lot of wood to heat and dry the pit. The ground in the desert here is mostly dry and has a good amount of clay already in the soil, so it makes the process fairly simple. In wetter climates, I would suggest lining the pit with stones. That would help the pit heat up quicker and hopefully limit some of the moisture that would otherwise be pressing in from the surrounding dirt.
I've been meaning to do some testing on the functional abilities of these pots--especially with their ability to be used for cooking over a fire--so I'll let you know when I have some better information. The bowls can easily be used for dry foods, of course, using the pots for wet foods or for holding water is where I need to do the testing. Since I'm not using an actual "coating" (just stone burnishing by rubbing and compressing the clay with a rock) they soak up more water than a modern glazed mug, for example. But I believe they're function enough (again, a little testing will help answer that better). And yes, I burnished the inside of many of the pots, all except the ones with too small of openings for me to get my hand into.
@jessica crew, So I still need to do more testing, and one day I'll work it all into a video, but I did a quick water test shortly after you made your comment and so I figured I share it with you here. I filled two of the pots with water. One was burnished inside and out and the other was only burnished on the outside. They've been holding the water for 8 1/2 hours now and the pot that was burnished inside and out only lost 1/8" of the water while the other pot lost about 1/2".
@@jessicacrewlove I'm sure it would. My interest, however, is in what I can pull off with simply some mud and a bit of fire. For my purposes, the small amount of water loss is an okay compromise, but there are definitely modern products out there that can be used to fully seal your finished product.
I'm not entirely sure, but I think it has something to do with how those shapes hold the heat. I think the bowl shapes are easier to maintain even heat throughout and provides a more efficient structure for everything that goes on during the firing process.
I've found it all over the place--including my backyard--but it almost always has a high sand content and that needs to be filtered. You can see how I separate out the clay in jars of water in some of my other videos. That process will help you get good usable clay from even the worst sources. You'll save time if you're the soil you start with has at least some clay-like properties when moistened. I make a little pile in my hand and then add a few drops of water and squish it up. As long as it will hold shape--even just a little--it has enough clay in it. Once the sand is filtered out, you should have a nice supply. Hope that helps!
Hmm I think its best if you make your mold out of lime in desert conditions. You could capture insects, or scorpions with hard exoskeletons, burn them, let them cool, mix them with water, and stir.
I would love to know more about your stone burnishing technique. I tried it once with a spoon, and it took so long it wasn't practical. Also, interior surfaces didn't turn out so well. You also mentioned burnishing at 3 levels of dryness, which is something new to me. Any tips would be great.
It definitely takes a lot of time. It one of those things where you have to enjoy the process or you'll go nuts. The stone is going to work the same way as a spoon, except--depending on the stone you choose--you can sometime have more shapes and features that let you get into those tiny places that are tricky to reach. You want to make sure you have a nice smooth rock too--not just smooth, but one that isn't too abrasive. As far as the different levels of dryness--this is something you just have to play around with a little. Along with burnishing the pots various levels of dryness, you can also to repeat burnishing at different stages. For example, If you let the pot dry enough so that it's hard, but still a little cool (some moisture still inside) then you'll find that as you burnish the surface, it rubs away more of the clay--you can see the swirl marks easier. You can leave it like this and fire it, or you can wait for that same, already burnished pot to reach the bone dry stage. You've already compressed a lot of the particles with the first burnishing, now, if you run it through another stage of burnishing, it will bring out an even great shine. Adding moisture--either water, or oil (I did a video on using bacon fat once) will help speed up the burnishing process as well. It helps to float out some of the surface particles so you can compress them back down. Just make sure you work one small spot at a time. Hopefully that helps a little. I'm still very much in the learning process of all this, but I enjoy the process and the experience. Let me know if you have any other questions.
@@AdventureRyan Dude... your comment replies are so informative! Thank you for sharing content you are passionate about and giving such thoughtful replies.
@@zoethegreatfish You're welcome, Christine. I'm not an expert on any of this, but I do enjoy it. I try to share what I can to help other people have their own experiences with this.
@@AdventureRyan And that is AWESOME! I think you found your vocation. Do what you enjoy and share it. The wealth and value of your job is literally priceless. Thank you. I have just started to get back into working with wild clay in my paints and ceramics. Your videos and comments are super useful.
@@zoethegreatfish I appreciate your encouraging words. You mentioned working with paint--have you every attempted making paint from natural materials for use on the clay? I haven't gotten into that yet, but I always thought it would be neat.
It will absorb a small amount of water which then evaporates off the outer walls. Because they are somewhat porous, I would be concerned with bacteria growing if they weren't properly cleaned between use (similar to the issues related to wooden bowls and containers). Aside from this, I believe it's safe to use for food, but there are limitations. This is a very simple and primitive form of making clay containers, so there's always some limitations with that sort of thing. They will withstand cooking over a fire though, and not all forms of pottery (even modern types) can pull that off, so that give it a few extra credit points in my book.
Thenk you very much for your answers. Realy the last time l want to make something to keap my home warm, but the firing bricks hear in Greece, cost very much! So l try to make fired bricks at first and after building a russian stove with obout 300 bricks. I allredy found red earth very chip and l try to get the informations from internet to do something about this. l don't know how much red earth l have to put, how much sand or something all.anyway, l am living in my farm and l have the place to make many things, but l do not know how.The problem too, is l do not speak very good english. Any way thank you very much, you do very good job. If you can do something for me, right me please a letter in my mail and a friend who speak very good english, helps me to understund everything you will right me. Thanks you again.
Again, I’m not an expert, but what I do when I find dirt that has a good amount of clay in it, I purify it as I’ve shown in my other videos. As far as how much temper (like sand) to add back in once the clay is purified, you can make small coin shaped samples using different ratios of amounts of sand to clay. I mark the coins with the ratio and then fire them all together and see how they turn out. Sometimes, depending on your original source, you might not even have to purify the clay to begin with. If your mud moves and shapes like clay, it might be worth firing a sample to see how it performs.
Are you saying that you’re pots are busting when you put them in the fire? If so, it’s usually either because your pots still had too much moisture in them, or because they weren’t heated gradually and evenly enough. The amount and type of material you use as temper is important too. Temper helps the pots to withstand the firing process. There’s definitely a lot of trial and error that goes along with this process.
Is this possible if you don't live in a desert? We have really heavy, wet, clay soil here. Should I try to use some sort of fire ring to keep the fire off the ground, so the pottery doesn't get steamed?
You can try to dry out the pit by building a fire in it and letting it burn for a good while. Then later, build a new fire for your pottery. But if the pit is still moist after the preheat, then I would recommend linking the pit (sides and bottom) with something like fire bricks. Not only will this help keep the moisture out, but it will help your pots get more even heat. Any moisture at all will lead to broken pots, as will anything that keeps your pots from heating evenly. -Hope that helps. Good luck!
@@AdventureRyan yes, but correct me if I'm wrong here: it is mirrored, right? If you put it on the other arm, there's no need to mirror it while still appears to be carried forward Edit: I mean, the stars part are normally on the left side of the flag, isn't it?
Yeah, it’s kind of confusing. You have to imagine the flag as it would hang on a pole or mast. The blue field of white stars is always closest to the pole, so for example, if you were standing and facing a flag pole and the wind was blowing from left to right, then the flag would be blowing in the wind so that the stars would be on the left (closest to the pole), but if the wind was blowing from right to left, then the flag would be blowing in the opposite direction, causing the stars to be on the right (next to the pole). Does that make sense?
Stone burnishing is done before the pot has fully dried. You can play around with it a little because depending on when you burnish, it will yield different results, but it needs to be done before the clay is fully dry. I usually wait until it has hardened up, but is still cool. The process is simple. You just rub a smooth stone against the clay. I work the stone in small circles. You're basically compacting the top layer of the clay. Burnishing can also be done using a small amount of oil. If you do this, apply the oil to only a small section at a time, then use the stone to burnish the surface. The oil helps bring a small slurry to the top which is then compacted back onto the surface. The burnishing doesn't take a tone of pressure, but it does take time.
No, I had my white balance on my camera set to auto and it was struggling a bit to deal with the firelight and the dark of the sky. It was definitely a hot fire...but not quite purple hot.
Once the fire was started, I let it burn for about 30 minutes with the pots surrounding the pit to preheat the pit and gradually warm the pots (it didn't take much since I'm in the desert and the pit was bone dry), then another 20 minutes or so was spent with the pots at the center of the pit to further bring them up to temperature. Once I started adding wood again, I kept the fire burning for just over 5 1/2 hours before covering it with dirt and leaving it to do its thing overnight. So the fire portion took about 6 1/2 hours total. Are you planning a pit firing soon?
Nice video Ryan. Can I ask, have you done any classes with John Olsen or Kelly Magleby? I really like the Anasazi coiled method, and I teach that method down here in Australia. Here's a pit firing video I made a few months back. ua-cam.com/video/nBfUZrrkq5w/v-deo.html
I haven't done any of those classes you've mentioned, but I'd love to some day--Maybe I'll even make it down to one of your classes one of these days. I'll check out your video!
@@AdventureRyan yeah the same thing you just did but this time use the tips and tricks people in the comments told you to do.. like using the metal pot over the pottery, add sawdust and other burnables around the pottery under the metal pot to get that pure black finish, and definitely use the cow dung to give it that metal look. I think someone else suggested throwing the saw dust on as soon as the pottery is glowing red.. so it would be neat to see how much better the pottery turns out.
Hi Ryan from Greece, how are yo? Very nice job! What you do after the fire? I mean, how you clean those? I tell you that because l seen many times very dirty bricks or other things.
I use warm water and dish soap and scrub them with a toothbrush and then rinse them dry. That’s mostly just to get the soot off of them. I haven’t focused too much on how to clean them as I’m still just experimenting and figuring the firing process out. I’d still like to figure out a natural glaze that will work for these and that’s probably next on the list. Thanks for watching!
Awesome video. I have clay from the creek I got last year. I decided over the weekend to make something and see if I can fire it and they survive. I have watched your video a few times and have it downloaded. I dug a pit and I might fire it tomorrow or wait until Sunday to make sure they are dry. My Dad and Mom bought the land I live on in 1948, 70 years ago. Every thing I do, carve wooden spoons, pottery, etc., comes off this land. I love it and love the adventures that folks like you posts for us to learn by. Thank you!
I apologize for not getting responding to this sooner. Did you fire your pots yet? How did they turn out? And that's great that you have your own land to inspire your creations. Having that sort of personal connection with the land and the things you make from it's resources is a special thing, for sure.
I fired some in a pit. None of them has the ringing sound when you thump them but they are small and I also read they are fired if you put your tongue against one and it "sticks". The sticking is the clay drawing the moisture and it did that. They are just for decor so I am not that worried about it but I have more things drying and will try a different way and perhaps add these back into the fire and hope they don't break for doing them again. Thank you for your comment and I do love where I was born and raised. :-)
Very nice job!
Seeing as how you had a 100% success rate, don’t take me the wrong way...I would just make a couple of suggestions.
Your actual firing was way longer than needed. You can build your fire up a couple of times until the pottery is red hot and then leave it alone. I have even seen it done with one firing. I do two to be safe. But, once the pot reaches red hot, it is done. No more needed.
On another note, I get my pots pure jet black by smothering them completely in dry saw dust as soon as they achieve the red hot stage. This has to be done fast once you start, and stand back and not over the fire as the dust can flame up violently almost like gasoline! It can burn you very badly in an instant! The saw dust floating in the air can make it very combustible!
Anyway, Once you get them completely covered with the saw dust, cover the saw dust layer with a couple of inches of dirt just like you did over your pots. The organic material touching the pots burns and the clay sucks the carbon out of the organic materials making the clay black. You can also use dry leaves or dry grass. I have had the best success with saw dust.
Keep up the good work!
Awesome! Thanks for the tips!
The various grasses can bring some really neat results with their different mineral content! I made a big boo boo once though: I wanted to try using banana peel for the potassium effects? I didn't DRY the peel, and the pots went kaboom! XD Afterwards, I was like duh, moisture...LOL!
Terry Finley do you post pictures or videos of those pots? Would love to see.
Do these need a step to seal them or are they food grade?
Thank you terry for sharing your knowledge 🙏 I’ve just started experimenting with natural clay, and your comment answered many of the questions that have been floating around in my brain!!
Good stuff! This is a "desert island" skill everyone should know.
Great job! Your pieces look great. thank you for sharing this process.
Use dry cow-dung for a beautiful black finish that can be polished to almost a metal appearance. Add it before covering the product with sand in the final steps.
I might have try that for my next attempt. Thanks!
Good to know, I think I'll try that too.
Yes, use dried cow dung , and while putting in fire, air should not be entered into it
David you should make videos showing how it looks
Wow! Almost didn’t believe it would work-amazing!
Ha! It seems strange that a process using just dirt and fire could produce something real, but people survived here in this area with this sort of knowledge and skill (although far beyond my own) for hundreds of years.
What a great video! Thank you for making it so simple and easy to understand. I think I'll be trying this technique this summer
Thanks! And yes, definitely give it a try. It’s always fun to play in the dirt a little.
You are a good demonstrator. Thank you for posting it. I am going to attempt a pit fire this week. I want to eventually pit fire at medieval reenactments (Society for Creative Anachronism) and allow other potters to bring their pots to fire. I only have low fire clay so I will be scaling back the time to fire it. I will try to remember to keep you posted.
Thanks, Zoe! And good luck with your efforts. Let me know how it all turns out.
I think I found my new hobby bro thanks!
Awesome! Glad I could help in some small way. Have fun!
Great quotes of US Vets..."I'm gonna finish gathering up my wood. I busted up a table." lol U DA MAN!!
Haha! Thanks, this made my day!
great video. the best one I have found. thanks for the great info at the end!
Thanks Jenna!
Love how you put so much effort in firing for a long time
I might have fired way longer than needed. I’m still experimenting. It’s always fun to keep experimenting.
Yes I agree I experiment with not only clay but other nature and I have lots of fun doing it
Thanks for sharing!
This is really cool!
Turned out very nice. New to clay and wanted to add it to my primitive skills list. This video coupled with clay collection videos is great. Thank you for taking the time to make this video.
Your welcome, Raul. I'm glad it was helpful. Enjoy the journey. Let me know if you have any questions in the future. I'm still learning, but I'd love to share what's worked for me.
hi I have a question can a person use salt water clay?where I live there is any amount of beach clay thank you
Awesome. Manure on top will also add insulation so the coals stay warmer longer.
😍😍I just love pottery making it's really good n looking very nice n cute pottery's ❤❤
I thought the siren was coming to put your fire out. I was really hoping to see a fire dance. This is very cool.
Haha! Sorry, no fire dance this time. Thanks for watching!
This is awesome. I've been playing around with different fires (bricklined simply campfire - worked great with low-fire quality clays - I got a great result!) I'm going to try digging out the pit like you're doing. So much fun - thanks for showing your stuff Ryan! :)
Also, it's weird - I keep seeing folks firing for way longer periods but mine are doing great with about a 4 hour burn average.
It's almost strange how much fun playing with mud and fire can be, isn't it? I'm sure the reflective heat from the brick-lined fire kept your fire nice and hot. I wonder if that's why you got away with a shorter burn time. I might have to do some experimenting now. If you do end up doing a pit fire, please let me know how long the burn ends up taking--you got me curious now.
@@AdventureRyan I know a lot has to do with clay quality, if I mix sand (silicone/glass requires a higher heat right/), a longer/higher temperature is needed. But if I have a fairly pure white or red clay, I don't need that high heat for as long to achieve bisque. This last time, I put a fan on the flames, just really burned the logs fast, right? I figured it would achieve a stronger bisque. But instead of a nice ting sound after the burn, I got a dull thunk and every piece had cracks in them. The only time I need a longer slower cooling period is when I've had to heat to accommodate the silicon elements, so far. Without it mixed into the clay? The higher temps go too far during that initial bisque process. I can even take them out of the coals hot, and wash them in water - I can speed the cooling safely without them cracking. Do that with the silicon/sand requiring the higher temps, those require the longer, slower cool down.
And yes - mud and fire rule. I will never, ever grow out of playing with them. :)
I think it's interesting how many micro-variables there are to this. I originally started playing around with firing wild clay because I saw it as an important wilderness living skill, but now that I've dabbled a little, I'm hooked!
Cool ! As primitive as it gets
Thanks for the video Ryan, great job !
Try protecting the pottery with a metal can turned upside down over the pottery. It will protect and cause a reduction environment. Pack flammables around it in the can before you place them in the pit. Never had anything not turn black thru this method. Good luck.
Awesome idea! I like trying something different each time I fire them, so I might have to add that to the list. Thanks.
@@007-Bond I believe he's saying to put a metal bucket/container of some sort upside down over the pottery to keep the pottery from getting scratched by rocks that might come in contact with the pottery once you start putting dirt on them.. The metal can will also protect the pottery from breaking if someone were to drive over your now-hidden fire spot of pottery thats buried. But before you put the metal can over your pottery, to surround the pottery with flammables such as saw dust, dry leaves, dry grass, and keep these flammables inside the can area and not outside the can.. so basically you pack the dried burnable organic matter on/around the pottery to make it black and then put your can over it.. the dry organic burnable material will burn slowly inside the can. The can will also keep the color consistent by keeping dirt off of it. The can will also make it easier to dig up the pottery since you wont have to feel around the dirt for your pottery.
beware of what type of metal and how hot you get it
Good job.
Beautiful video !
Thank you!
Nice Video Ryan! It reminds me on my pit fire video i made a few years ago (to see on my channel). In that experiment, i did cover the fire with ashes and stoneplates to hold the temperature over night and keep oxigene out.
Proparly the result was the same like without that. I have to do it again to see the difference. This time without covering it.
Thanks! It’s fun to experiment with this stuff. The stone plates are a good idea, especially if you live somewhere outside of the desert. Let me know how you’re pottery turns out on your next firing.
I just bought some clay and Im thinking of firing it, how long would you say I need to wait before its ready to be fired, also what temp does the fire need to be at?
Increíble 👏👏👏👏👍 saludos desde Perú 🇵🇪
Bienvenidos, Darth!
Great video! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Christine!
So cool!!!
Isn’t it amazing what can be done with just mud and fire!?
good job!
Thanks!
So inspiring video.
Thanks, Charity Villegas!
it looks like there is a lot of clay in the soil right where you dug your pit. pretty cool if you can get some clay you can use right there.
You're right! I later took some dirt nearby this location and filtered out the clay and there was a good amount to work with.
Lay your sleeping bag over your "hidden" fire, for a comfortable nights sleep!
Yes! I've done that on two separate occasions while camping in Alaska--one time was successful, the other...not so much (those coals got toasty quick!).
@@AdventureRyan Isn't it great when we can complain about being too warm sometimes! Keep it up!!
Wonderful❤
I tried this today for the first time and as soon as I put my pots on the coals they exploded ! Don't know what I'm doing wrong? Are your pots biscuit- fired first? 🥺
The pots have to be completely dry before they can be fired. That’s usually the reason they blow up like that. Second, they have to be gradually brought to up to temperature and then evenly heated. Make sure your pit is dry too, before firing anything in it. Usually, while my first pile of wood is burning down I set the pots around the pit and rotated them from time to time while gradually moving them closer and closer to the pit. Before actually putting them in the pit, I pull all the coals to the outside walls and I set the pots in the center. I leave them there like that for a while before adding more wood. One other factor that can sometimes cause pots to break is the amount of temper you have. Every type of clay has different needs, but you usually need some sort of temper (I use sand) to help the pots remain stable during the heating process.
Thanks so much for this information. The clay I used might not have been right, but it did have a heavy grog.I think we call what you call "temper" , "grog" here in the uk. It's very damp here too so difficult to get the earth completely dry but my pots were bone dry. Even though they all totally exploded, I am going to try again. I will use a different clay and be more careful with the heating process. How do you know when they are hot enough to put in the pit?
@@ruthcastle8270 They can also explode if you have too much air bubbles trapped in the clay which means you need to wedge your clay better before shaping it.
@@ChristopherJones16 thank you! I've got some new clay and will wedge the hell out of it and warm my pots gradually before firing! Fingers crossed 🤞
How can we know that our pots are dried🤔🤔🧐
Beautiful
Nice!!
Thanks!
Dude this was awesome, been wanting to add a spot at the house to do something like this. Cheers for the video thumbs up & subbed
One of these days, I'd like to dig a more permanent pit lined with fire blocks. It's been a lot of fun to mess around with and try different things. If you do build a pit at your house--just make sure you give it some good space. These fires get crazy hot!
What would you recommend on space? Man you should do a series on this or even just make more of them it's a good watch, cheers man
The amount of space depends on how big of a pit your working with. It's really just basic fire safety, you just have to remember that you're going to be keeping this fire blazing for a good long time, so the coal bed gets very hot. I do have a few more Primitive Pottery that I've made--they're organized into a playlist on my channel if you want to check them out. But yes, I'll probably do more videos on this topic. There's just something awesome about taking a handful of dirt, adding some water, and a bit of fire and ending up with something very functional--it's beautifully primal!
Thanks for the reply man, I will check them out
Thats great
Hi there! I just watched your video and I’m very curious to know about the ingredients you may have used in addition to the clay? You mentioned a process before firing and I’m unsure about that. I found some natural clay in a nearby creek and I’d like to make my own pieces of pottery with it. Can I just filter the clay and use it as is then fire it just like this??
If you purify your clay before use (which I’ve shown in other videos), or if your clay source is already pure (meaning it’s almost 100% clay and not mixed with sand or other types of soil) then you need to add in a certain amount of “temper” which helps the clay during the firing stage to expand the and change the way it needs to without cracking or shattering. I usually use sand, but there are other options. It’s good to do some tests with the clay you have. Mix in different amounts of sand with each sample, try coarse sand and fine sand, and make little pancakes of clay and label them. Then fire those samples and see how they do. Each type of clay behaves differently.
Well done.
Thanks, Mel!
Nice work
Thanks, Ramya!
Hi! I want to try this today. My neighbors would freak out if I dug a hole though. Any chance this can be done in my metal fire pit? Do you think it would be ok?
I’ve wondered the same thing-if it would work the same in a metal fire pit. I imagine it would. If I were doing it, I would try to keep my pots from touching the metal itself-even just the coals and ashes from the last fire might help-because I’d be worried about the hot metal heating the clay unevenly in places. If you give it a try, let me know how it works!
i would beware of melting the metal, but i still also want to try it... maybe lining it with dirt to simulate this insulation? or a sand clay mix?
I LOVE THIS VIDEO!!
Thanks, Harris!
Nice vid!
Hey , it's getting hotter here in the East !!
This is some Runescape shit right here.
Very nice work 👍 good luck, what materials can I add to clay while it is being massaged to become obedient and solid?
Yup, reduction is a chemical process. With insufficient activation energy it won't happen. Gotta smother at max temp, not after it cools down.
Thank you for sharing
I think it consuming a lot of wood and time in order to warm it up... What about oven for baking clay if you are doing a lot of clay?! Is it expensive?!
I haven't tried any oven baking, so I don't know much about that. My interest in the pit firing mostly stems from an interest in the methods used by Native Americans in this area. And yes, depending on where you are, it can use up a lot of wood to heat and dry the pit. The ground in the desert here is mostly dry and has a good amount of clay already in the soil, so it makes the process fairly simple. In wetter climates, I would suggest lining the pit with stones. That would help the pit heat up quicker and hopefully limit some of the moisture that would otherwise be pressing in from the surrounding dirt.
Adventure Ryan I got it now
Thank you again and thanks for your explanation 😎👍✌️🙏
Ive looked for video explaining stone polishing clay and have found none! Can you please demonstrate? Thanks a bunch!
I'm looking for it to trying this and also implementing some of the suggestions in the comments.
Awesome! Let me know how it goes! Enjoy the process.
The byproduct of charcoal is very useful too
Thank you! Question, can you eat out of the bowls? And did you put the coating on the inside too or only the outside?
I've been meaning to do some testing on the functional abilities of these pots--especially with their ability to be used for cooking over a fire--so I'll let you know when I have some better information. The bowls can easily be used for dry foods, of course, using the pots for wet foods or for holding water is where I need to do the testing. Since I'm not using an actual "coating" (just stone burnishing by rubbing and compressing the clay with a rock) they soak up more water than a modern glazed mug, for example. But I believe they're function enough (again, a little testing will help answer that better). And yes, I burnished the inside of many of the pots, all except the ones with too small of openings for me to get my hand into.
@@AdventureRyan Thank you!!! I would love to know what you find
@jessica crew, So I still need to do more testing, and one day I'll work it all into a video, but I did a quick water test shortly after you made your comment and so I figured I share it with you here. I filled two of the pots with water. One was burnished inside and out and the other was only burnished on the outside. They've been holding the water for 8 1/2 hours now and the pot that was burnished inside and out only lost 1/8" of the water while the other pot lost about 1/2".
@@AdventureRyan Good to know and as one would expect. Would a strong sealant make it waterproof for use with liquids?
@@jessicacrewlove I'm sure it would. My interest, however, is in what I can pull off with simply some mud and a bit of fire. For my purposes, the small amount of water loss is an okay compromise, but there are definitely modern products out there that can be used to fully seal your finished product.
Why do the flat ones have a higher chance of breaking?
I'm not entirely sure, but I think it has something to do with how those shapes hold the heat. I think the bowl shapes are easier to maintain even heat throughout and provides a more efficient structure for everything that goes on during the firing process.
@@AdventureRyan thanks
Hello Rayan fellow combat veteran. Where a good place to go for clay in the desert here?
I've found it all over the place--including my backyard--but it almost always has a high sand content and that needs to be filtered. You can see how I separate out the clay in jars of water in some of my other videos. That process will help you get good usable clay from even the worst sources. You'll save time if you're the soil you start with has at least some clay-like properties when moistened. I make a little pile in my hand and then add a few drops of water and squish it up. As long as it will hold shape--even just a little--it has enough clay in it. Once the sand is filtered out, you should have a nice supply. Hope that helps!
Adventure Ryan thanks brother
Hmm I think its best if you make your mold out of lime in desert conditions. You could capture insects, or scorpions with hard exoskeletons, burn them, let them cool, mix them with water, and stir.
@@pauliemorbol6109 Hold up. You can use bugs to make lime?! I thought you had to use shells. That's awesome! Thank you Paulie!!!!
He couldn't put the ikea table together so he made pottery with it
Haha!
Nice video. Great demonstration.. But do they not make grass where you live?
It's the desert, so without water--it doesn't grow.
I would love to know more about your stone burnishing technique. I tried it once with a spoon, and it took so long it wasn't practical. Also, interior surfaces didn't turn out so well. You also mentioned burnishing at 3 levels of dryness, which is something new to me. Any tips would be great.
It definitely takes a lot of time. It one of those things where you have to enjoy the process or you'll go nuts. The stone is going to work the same way as a spoon, except--depending on the stone you choose--you can sometime have more shapes and features that let you get into those tiny places that are tricky to reach. You want to make sure you have a nice smooth rock too--not just smooth, but one that isn't too abrasive. As far as the different levels of dryness--this is something you just have to play around with a little. Along with burnishing the pots various levels of dryness, you can also to repeat burnishing at different stages. For example, If you let the pot dry enough so that it's hard, but still a little cool (some moisture still inside) then you'll find that as you burnish the surface, it rubs away more of the clay--you can see the swirl marks easier. You can leave it like this and fire it, or you can wait for that same, already burnished pot to reach the bone dry stage. You've already compressed a lot of the particles with the first burnishing, now, if you run it through another stage of burnishing, it will bring out an even great shine. Adding moisture--either water, or oil (I did a video on using bacon fat once) will help speed up the burnishing process as well. It helps to float out some of the surface particles so you can compress them back down. Just make sure you work one small spot at a time. Hopefully that helps a little. I'm still very much in the learning process of all this, but I enjoy the process and the experience. Let me know if you have any other questions.
@@AdventureRyan Dude... your comment replies are so informative! Thank you for sharing content you are passionate about and giving such thoughtful replies.
@@zoethegreatfish You're welcome, Christine. I'm not an expert on any of this, but I do enjoy it. I try to share what I can to help other people have their own experiences with this.
@@AdventureRyan And that is AWESOME! I think you found your vocation. Do what you enjoy and share it. The wealth and value of your job is literally priceless. Thank you. I have just started to get back into working with wild clay in my paints and ceramics. Your videos and comments are super useful.
@@zoethegreatfish I appreciate your encouraging words. You mentioned working with paint--have you every attempted making paint from natural materials for use on the clay? I haven't gotten into that yet, but I always thought it would be neat.
How much time spent ? 5 hours ? Is it safe for food? Or need another process?
It will absorb a small amount of water which then evaporates off the outer walls. Because they are somewhat porous, I would be concerned with bacteria growing if they weren't properly cleaned between use (similar to the issues related to wooden bowls and containers). Aside from this, I believe it's safe to use for food, but there are limitations. This is a very simple and primitive form of making clay containers, so there's always some limitations with that sort of thing. They will withstand cooking over a fire though, and not all forms of pottery (even modern types) can pull that off, so that give it a few extra credit points in my book.
Thenk you very much for your answers. Realy the last time l want to make something to keap my home warm, but the firing bricks hear in Greece, cost very much! So l try to make fired bricks at first and after building a russian stove with obout 300 bricks. I allredy found red earth very chip and l try to get the informations from internet to do something about this. l don't know how much red earth l have to put, how much sand or something all.anyway, l am living in my farm and l have the place to make many things, but l do not know how.The problem too, is l do not speak very good english. Any way thank you very much, you do very good job. If you can do something for me, right me please a letter in my mail and a friend who speak very good english, helps me to understund everything you will right me. Thanks you again.
Again, I’m not an expert, but what I do when I find dirt that has a good amount of clay in it, I purify it as I’ve shown in my other videos. As far as how much temper (like sand) to add back in once the clay is purified, you can make small coin shaped samples using different ratios of amounts of sand to clay. I mark the coins with the ratio and then fire them all together and see how they turn out. Sometimes, depending on your original source, you might not even have to purify the clay to begin with. If your mud moves and shapes like clay, it might be worth firing a sample to see how it performs.
When i put in fir port has been bust why
Are you saying that you’re pots are busting when you put them in the fire? If so, it’s usually either because your pots still had too much moisture in them, or because they weren’t heated gradually and evenly enough. The amount and type of material you use as temper is important too. Temper helps the pots to withstand the firing process. There’s definitely a lot of trial and error that goes along with this process.
Is this possible if you don't live in a desert? We have really heavy, wet, clay soil here. Should I try to use some sort of fire ring to keep the fire off the ground, so the pottery doesn't get steamed?
You can try to dry out the pit by building a fire in it and letting it burn for a good while. Then later, build a new fire for your pottery. But if the pit is still moist after the preheat, then I would recommend linking the pit (sides and bottom) with something like fire bricks. Not only will this help keep the moisture out, but it will help your pots get more even heat. Any moisture at all will lead to broken pots, as will anything that keeps your pots from heating evenly. -Hope that helps. Good luck!
Crossfitter doing crossfit. Love the video!
Ha! If fitness can’t be applied to real stuff, what’s the point, right?
You wanna cover it with a mix of saw dust and horse manure. Not just sand.
Yes, the saw dust and horse manure would blacken the pots up very nice. I’ll probably try that on my next batch.
Totally unrelated, but as non-american, I want to know why you guys prefer to mirror your flag instead of putting it on the other arm?
It’s represents the way our flag appears when being carried forward into battle.
@@AdventureRyan yes, but correct me if I'm wrong here: it is mirrored, right? If you put it on the other arm, there's no need to mirror it while still appears to be carried forward
Edit: I mean, the stars part are normally on the left side of the flag, isn't it?
Yeah, it’s kind of confusing. You have to imagine the flag as it would hang on a pole or mast. The blue field of white stars is always closest to the pole, so for example, if you were standing and facing a flag pole and the wind was blowing from left to right, then the flag would be blowing in the wind so that the stars would be on the left (closest to the pole), but if the wind was blowing from right to left, then the flag would be blowing in the opposite direction, causing the stars to be on the right (next to the pole). Does that make sense?
Cool video but if anyone wants to try this in a lot with city services, please make sure you call to check for gas lines.
How to do stone burnishing?
Stone burnishing is done before the pot has fully dried. You can play around with it a little because depending on when you burnish, it will yield different results, but it needs to be done before the clay is fully dry. I usually wait until it has hardened up, but is still cool. The process is simple. You just rub a smooth stone against the clay. I work the stone in small circles. You're basically compacting the top layer of the clay. Burnishing can also be done using a small amount of oil. If you do this, apply the oil to only a small section at a time, then use the stone to burnish the surface. The oil helps bring a small slurry to the top which is then compacted back onto the surface. The burnishing doesn't take a tone of pressure, but it does take time.
We’re those coals purple or am I gay cause if it was purple shoot that is one hot as fire
No, I had my white balance on my camera set to auto and it was struggling a bit to deal with the firelight and the dark of the sky. It was definitely a hot fire...but not quite purple hot.
Great video.How long would it take to from start to finish ?
Once the fire was started, I let it burn for about 30 minutes with the pots surrounding the pit to preheat the pit and gradually warm the pots (it didn't take much since I'm in the desert and the pit was bone dry), then another 20 minutes or so was spent with the pots at the center of the pit to further bring them up to temperature. Once I started adding wood again, I kept the fire burning for just over 5 1/2 hours before covering it with dirt and leaving it to do its thing overnight. So the fire portion took about 6 1/2 hours total. Are you planning a pit firing soon?
I just use my Weber charcoal grill
Good idea, Douglas. Do you use wood or charcoal for your heat source?
Adventure Ryan Just Kingsford charcoal!
@@sxdxfan for how long ?
Thanks
Ok this is no hate he’s really cool but has anyone else notice he kinda looks like a young Creed from the Office idk he probably gets this a lot
Personally, I don’t see it, but as a long time fan of The Office, thank you (Creed’s character is hilarious!)
Nice video Ryan. Can I ask, have you done any classes with John Olsen or Kelly Magleby? I really like the Anasazi coiled method, and I teach that method down here in Australia. Here's a pit firing video I made a few months back. ua-cam.com/video/nBfUZrrkq5w/v-deo.html
I haven't done any of those classes you've mentioned, but I'd love to some day--Maybe I'll even make it down to one of your classes one of these days. I'll check out your video!
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷
Do this again.
I’ve been itching to, actually. Any recommendations for the future video?
@@AdventureRyan yeah the same thing you just did but this time use the tips and tricks people in the comments told you to do.. like using the metal pot over the pottery, add sawdust and other burnables around the pottery under the metal pot to get that pure black finish, and definitely use the cow dung to give it that metal look. I think someone else suggested throwing the saw dust on as soon as the pottery is glowing red.. so it would be neat to see how much better the pottery turns out.
Mine is broking again and again
All that wood is so much waste, is this the only way to do it ?
Wood grows on trees and is a very renewable resource when done right.
Looked like scrap wood. Great way to recycle! Great job!
ua-cam.com/video/52HKSwkI1hs/v-deo.html
Mine is Broking
Hi Ryan from Greece, how are yo? Very nice job! What you do after the fire? I mean, how you clean those?
I tell you that because l seen many times very dirty bricks or other things.
I use warm water and dish soap and scrub them with a toothbrush and then rinse them dry. That’s mostly just to get the soot off of them. I haven’t focused too much on how to clean them as I’m still just experimenting and figuring the firing process out. I’d still like to figure out a natural glaze that will work for these and that’s probably next on the list. Thanks for watching!