Here in North Carolina you can’t help but find clay anytime you dig. Great for pottery, annoying for gardening! I dig a bright red clay in my yard and after slaking it down and passing through sieves it works beautifully for handbuilding, throwing, and firing to cone 04. No temper added!
Thankyou for the reference to "cone 04". I had to research what that meant since I am a total pottery newb. I am in Wisconsin and also have abundant clay on my property...down about two feet and it's unavoidable. I'm also an avid gardener. I stumbled onto Andy's vids when looking into DIY ollas.
this video is unintentionally a really good guide for worldbuilders on how societies can access clay, and which ones have more than others, and which types they have
Very informative and great presentation. Thanks. I’m a palaeontologist in Alberta Canada and I spenD hundreds of hours searching for fossils in our clays. You mentioned a loose clay of the Naco formation. There is a place in Arizona called Kohl’s Ranch. It is in this loose clay that you will find many fossils. Especially brachiopods and crinoids.The clay was once hard and compacted into rocks but has since been ground back into clay particles. This frees the fossils. The Naco formation is middle Pennsylvanian inage or about 300 million years old.
Our farm in eastern Ontario Canada sat on what the locals call blue clay that seemed bottomless. My father cursed it because in the spring when it was wet his tractor would get stuck in it. When it dried out it became hard as rock and he had to break it up with the discs so my mom could plant her garden. My mom loved it because her garden grew amazingly well in it. I don't know its geologic origin but this area was once covered in glaciers and was also once the bottom of an ancient sea bed
Howdy Andy, I built my house in Oregon, right on top of a clay deposit. When having a well drilled, I found it's 30-40' to water and then there is an old river bed with sand and gravel. The old neighbors had dynamited pockets, filled them with dirt and grew their apple trees in the pockets. there is about 3 feet of dirt, then 30 feet of clay under my feet anywhere on the property. I dug a pond about 5 feet down. I holds water very well all year. I keep dreaming of things to do with all the clay. I work about 2000 miles from home (Alaska 9 months out of the year), so don't get to spend a lot of time playing with it, but if you're ever in/near/by Oregon in the summer, please do stop by. I can make anything out of it, but once it is out of the ground, I end up wearing it on the bottom of my shoes; it doesn't go away..... Dan heading to Oregon (home) soon.
Clay can be a blessing or a curse if you live on top of it. I know many places here in Arizona have broken foundations because they were built right on top of clay. I'll bet that Oregon clay would be great for making pots, maybe when you retire...
@@AncientPottery I’m also in Oregon just West of Portland in the hills. We have a unique property where we’re midway down our mountain with sloping property. Part of it is more or less wetland and we use that for pasture where we have springs all over our property but there is a bunch of clay there in the route down the middle to our kind of clay bog. It’s yellowish showing that it’s high also in organic content. Down a bit further to our creek we have clay deposits down inside (it’s like a 5ft ravine) with green clay? 😳 also brown and reddish clay. How would I tell which KIND of clays these are from the various colors- I know they’re probably all riverbed clay, but the different mineral compositions make it hard for me to figure out how to process them? I think I have a short video up showing them, I can’t remember.
I'm from MN. We have the Decorah shale formation. The shale does make for good clay, just takes more work as the clay is compressed and needs to be agitated ( I use a paint mixer on my drill) to loosen up the clay from the shale it has been pressed into.
Just watched a few of your videos on finding and processing wild clay and I have no idea if I'll ever use this knowledge but I love that these videos exist and that I have learned something new. Thank you!
I’m only just getting into pottery but as a kid I used to wade in the lake at my parents’ cottage in Newfoundland, Canada and dig up sheets of what we’d call “pug”…it was dark grey and texturally reminds me very much of the white clay I’ve been using in my class. I could pry up sections about 3 inches thick and as big as I could carry to shore and we’d hand build it into little bowls (which would ultimately break because we had no way to fire it) or dissolve it to slip and rub it all over ourselves as “spa treatments”. Does this sound like something I could make pottery with? I still know all the best spots and am willing to go back in the lake - haha.
Not in to pottery per se, but building a greenhouse and storage building using on-site materials. Thank you for your interesting videos on the subject. These videos will be useful for my projects.
Just wanted to say you have an amazing channel. Just the niche I'm looking for. Very informative, well made, and entertaining. I'm not kissing no a** but I appreciate your love for the history and art of pottery.
Really interesting. I love how you've taken a bunch of people interested in craft and given us a nature documentary! I'd also be keen to see you do a follow up video of types of clay found in tropical, coastal or alpine regions (if you ever travel outside your state) . Thanks.
Thanks. The same clay types exist around the world, the only type of clay we are lacking here in Arizona is glacial clay. This is an old video and could use an update now.
I found grey rocks in our creek bed in East Texas that turned out to be clay. I’m really wanting to try to make something out of it. Do you have any idea what kind of clay it might be? I find them in various size chunks
Love your channel. My son kept telling me that he could make clay easily because we're surrounded by it, but I was skeptical and about to order a bunch until one of your videos popped up in my recommendations, which kind of makes me wonder if my phone is "listening" to us, haha, but anyway thanks for the information!
This is super fun. Our local weather has not been agreeable with clay collecting, but I know right where to go. The colors are absolutely AMAZING; Pinks, Burgundies, Orange, Brown.
My boyfriend just picked some alluvial clay up for me. He found some that looks like it was washed up on the side of the road with the rain It looks really pure with maybe a little bit of plant matter. I'm so excited!
Thank you for this video, I had just sourced some wild clay prior to watching this without much of an idea what I was doing. Luckily my old foraging trick of using place names was also useful here, I collected from "clay wood" in my local area. Now to binge watch all your content so I can begin my experiments in earnest. What a fantastic resource you are providing, I am very grateful.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge we have a pond and a stream in our woods and that is where i find my clay for Yaki-ire=clay tempering of swords and knives. I found your channel by trying to learn how to remove the dirt from clay.
Here in Deep East Texas we have red clay and blue, "Gumbo Mud"...clay. I didn't grow up here so I was familiar with the Gumbo mud until I helped my husband dig a well. We started hand digging but eventually resorted to pushing a steel pipe into the ground passing through gumbo mud. Husband told me if I wanted some out of the pipe I'd better get it while it was wet because once it dried I wouldn't be able to get it. Of course, I didn't listen. Yup. Next day when I attempted to retrieve the now dry substance out of the pipe...it wasn't budging. That pipe got used for a gate...with gumbo mud still intact. For all these years I've threatened to collect our mud and try my hand at firing some pottery. You've inspired me to get off my duff and get it done!
I liked this very much and so glad to have found you! I have many years of pottery experiences, mostly all in school. From jr high through 3 different college's. Needless to say I love it, and been away from it for too long. Thanks for the swift kick in the butt!
❤ Absolutely. Love you. I'm really trying to pay attention for the tilt. I absolutely love watching. You are really good at informing about plays because you yourself rent the hardway
Hey, I am absolutely digging your content ! I’m in northern Vermont. Out here we have high levels of play in our subsoil. It’s a gray clay. When I was outback, running the kayak out of little creek, I came across huge bed of smooth, gray clay under the water. It’s like it has been washed clean! I’m hoping to go back this Summer and start breaking out some lumps and processing it. I can’t wait! Your channel has giving me the confidence that I can actually do this. I’ve never done anything with pottery, but I want to so bad. I love the southwest, and the rich native history. I’m going to see if there is some Northeast Native American techniques For pottery and see if I can emulate that.
I live on a flood plane in Texas absolutely saturated with clay. I’m working on digging it up and filtering it. Hopefully I can make jewelry pieces, pit fire them like you’ve shown us, and I can share this art with the community. I’d also like to make a kick wheel for throwing. I’m so excited to try this ancient art. Thank you for your videos!
Thanks for all the videos, very helpful. Got Sand on top of red clay sand mix above iron ore above more clay then sand potable water zone. All within 20 ft surface here. Nice part is, I have more than 20ft change in elevation on this land. Dig down from top of hill to about 50ft and I have lignite coal. Don't need coal though, trees grow like weeds here. Being retired, I am focused on using resources here in as many of the old way as possible to build my home.
I live in Juneau, Alaska and we have what appears to be very clay-like deposits around our glacial lakes and rivers. We always call it silt -- and it's super slick to walk on! Would that make good pottery? Just happened on your channel for the first time. Very interesting!
Hmm, interesting. I know people in Alaska who use glacial clays, the difference between silts and clays would be that the clay is plastic and moldable and dries hard. Give it a try
Just out of curiosity, can you find good clay in the bottoms of rivers or lakes? There's not many where I live, but I was visiting one once and noticed that it felt either very claylike and was very plastic or very sandy depending on the area, so I was curious about whether it would work or not. Great video by the way.
@@AncientPottery good to know! I just found that i can remove iron out of powdered filtered wild clay with a strong magnet, I wonder if it will significantly lower the redness. Have you ever heard of that?
I also live on the San Pedro, Mammoth Arizona. I have found many shards in my yard of many colors and a few with interesting painting, stripes or dots. And even more stone tools. Mostly scrapers, almost always made of beautiful stone, thin but strong and sharp with little teeth. I have a hypothesis that these scrapers weren't just used to scrape hides but also cut and scrape fibers and wood (like az ash or yucca) to make baskets. A few axes and many spear tips but no actual 'arrow heads'. Oh, and some fabulous historical glass as my yard was where they dumped the glass. Old adobe bar/dance hall 1870's with an insane back story. Bisbee might be a living 'ghost town' whereas Mammoth is an actual Ghost Town lol Anyway, your videos have inspired me to hunt wild clays. When I get my new computer I'm totally signing up for your online classes!
Wonderful. I was just out exploring for clays in your area recently. When you sign up for the class I will send you directions to a couple good clays in your area.
@@AncientPottery awesome, ty. I will sign up now then :) Oh shoot. I can't find the link to sign up for your classes. Can you please give me the link for that?
I collected some marine clay which is washed away daily by the sea. I am wet processing it but wondered if salt content is an issue e.g. when firing? Thanks, love your videos, great educational content 👍
I have Clay from a creek bend that has gray chunks and burns red. It is hard to get out of the ground it smashes and compresses when I am trying to to dig it out.
I live in tn where the ground is basically red clay. But after separating the clay using water and filters, forming simple cylinder pots, adding temper, and wood/charcoal firing. The pots will resist falling apart or "melting" in the rain and water but has no strength. It breaks super easily. Any suggestions why it does that?
Hmm, my guess would be that either you ended up with too much temper which can make pottery brittle, or you didn't fire hot enough. Experiment to find the answer.
Thanks Andy, this is a very helpful topic. I live near Albany N.Y., and my yard is full of high quality ancient glacial lakebed clay. It’s about 8 inches down below the top soil and runs about 18 inches deep before a layer of shale below the clay. There appears to be a grey and red variety swirled together in most places. It is extremely sticky when wet. Of the varieties mentioned, what types do you use for what purposes ? For example pottery vs say bricks. I’m curious what what would be the best use for this type of clay that I have. Thanks again for your great station.
You are welcome. All of the clays I mention here can be usable for pottery but every individual deposit has different properties so experimentation is required to see what can be done with a given clay. My main clays that I use for building pottery are a primary and an alluvial.
Anyone have experience looking in the new england area? We don't really have these big expanses of mostly empty soil. Anywhere there aren't buildings there's likely to be trees and foliage, and it doesn't seem like most of the exposed soil has much clay
thanks so much for these videos. just a suggestion, I'm sure it would be appreciated if you equalized the volume between the music and your voice? sometimes the sound pick up of your voice is very quiet and then the music comes in very loud.... had to keep turning my headphones up to hear you and then quickly back down before the music blew out my eardrums. just a small thing but makes a big difference so i can focus on the good info
I live near southern Utah and found red, yellow,red/purple, and white/gray. It seems like the yellow clay is a lot more gelatinous and thickens up real quickly. Reddish purple clay does the same but seems to have more body. The red clay has a lot more sand in it. I'm wondering what the mineral content could be in these and if they are useful for pottery?. I suspect the yellow could have sulfur. I know the Reds have iron oxide. The whitish-gray possibly Lime but also a lot of silt. I found all these deposits on the steppes of a reservoir where there is occasional thermal activity nearby (hot pots). They were all found in the same vicinity of each other and in veins, if that makes sense? I also found chocolate brown clay in Colorado that settles really fast, not sure why this is? Also found green clay but no sign of BioLife as I have encountered in past clays. Hey I'm so excited and I would like to know more about these!. I have recently become fascinated by Clay and came across your very informative video!
I know people who make pottery from that red Georgia clay. I don’t know enough about it to tell you what kind of clay it is though. If I had to guess I would say primary but it’s just an uneducated guess.
I don't know anything about pottery but I do hunt clay for my niece who loves everything pottery. Great video! I wish I was smart enough to describe what I find or even ask the question I want to ask but I'll try. In some very old drainage ditches that have cut below the topsoil into the prehistoric ocean bottom (I live in the PNW) I will find a grayish-white substance that is harder than a clay but softer than a rock that can be crumbled into a fine powder. I would love to know if I can process this into clay... I found it last year and now the river is too high to extract any without significant effort but if it's usable I'd put in the effort...
Hi, I see you call the red clay primary clay along with the other types. I dug some red clay on my farm and have had it sitting since last year, it's really sticky. I had it in a bucket with a sieve that allowed water to drain off of it. Anyway, I've seen it referred to as "plain ole brick clay" that doesn't sound good. Can it be used for pottery or sculpting or am I stuck with just plain old brick clay? Thanks.
The color doesn't have anything to do with the type. It is primary because of the way it was deposited. All clays are different, I hope your "plain ole brick clay" turns out to be good.
I live in northern Utah and most rock around me is limestone. I know that there is a lot of clay in the subsoil having dug a lot of fencepost holes. I have heard that this kind of clay is undesirable. Is that true? If so, why is that?
Limestone in your clay can cause your pottery to break. So you either need to make sure there are no pieces of limestone in your clay or fire below 900 C.
Very interesting video. Seen videos of both dried and completely water logged clays, but nothing like what I describe. I'm wondering if I am really remembering this--but when I was around ten I was digging around near a pond (with hands) and found what appeared to be quite pure red clay that was moldable and soft. Was able to take it home and play with it, would go back again and again. Can't believe I invented this whole memory but I can't find any videos that look like the stuff I found. I was interested in art even back then and recognized the stuff as similar to what I got in art class. BTW, in Wisconsin--huge areas in Wisconsin were under glaciers. True or not so true memory?
The "stoneware" designation just refers to the ability of the clay to withstand very high temperatures. Many wild clays can be stonewares and many melt at that temperature, you just need to test them to find out how high you can fire them. See this video on that process ua-cam.com/video/lbVXOHO5TsE/v-deo.html
I like this simple division of clay into primary and the 3 secondary. How common is it for clay that has been compacted/lithified into some sort of tuff, shale, mudstone or claystone to weather back into clay ? Is there a way of telling weather small clay deposits surrounded by tuff, shale or mudstone have failed to lithify or been formed by reweathering of lithified material. Does it make any practical difference? On a technical note, could you make the narration slightly louder and the music between the narrations slightly quieter ? When listening with earbuds the music is a little too loud.
North America here! I have a backyard full of redish brown wild clay, and I decided to try wet processing it for the first time, well I strained it a couple different times, and ended with a large bit of clay at the end, but it's grainy/gritty. Is this a good quality? Do I still have to add a temper or will whatever is in it work as one? Do I have to do the wet process all over again?
It depends on how much grit and how much shrinkage the clay has. Do some experiments and see how it does. This video can help ua-cam.com/video/l4QjKYP3fGk/v-deo.html
@@AncientPottery the coil test proved harder than I thought it would be. I couldn't even make it into a pinch pot, it kept falling apart. The clay I left out to dry hardened up nicely, and had alot of strength strength, but it disintegrated pretty quickly once wet.
Hi Andy. I'm looking to find the appropriate clay for plastering straw walls internally, I'm based in Ireland and I have access to ' Macamore' clay. Is this ok or not the right type ? Thanks
Dude, you need to visit SLC. I’m sure we could bring enough people together to make it worth your while. I have noticed some deposits of clay around my place.
yes i have a question, please, why the compressed clay, as i saw you showing there, almost rock but still clay, is not possible to make potterie anymore??? Because, i found that same clay in here, i didn t try to potterie with it yet, still on water to see if it can get soft and plastic...
Some clays that have been compressed can be softened and used, others that have become shale cannot be used. It is always worth soaking to see if it will soften up.
@@AncientPottery thank s for the help, i think i have somo clay with millions and millions years old...rock, but with wonderfull color, purple, maby with a lot of copper
There is a clay mine near my house (pacific clay is the company name) and you can pull up chunks bigger than your head from the water holes they dig( I think it’s so the clay collects in the pool)
Can you do a video on making clay pots with beach sand? Hawaii has beautiful black sand! There's red sand beaches, and also white sand beaches. That would be cook to see on video! :)
You know sow many things about clay and maby you know wich one clay, we use to make fire bricks? I mean fireproof bricks. We mix the clay with cement for thoses clay or just clay? Thank you and hapy the new year sir.
kaolinwasher the red is okay, the white is real plastic but also has a high shrinkage rate so is best used as a slip. Probably the best building clay shown here is that grey alluvial clay I showed by the river, that’s pretty good stuff.
I tried burning a lot of paper that was sent to me, during a year.. The fly ash, mixed with water has very, very fine particles.. left it to dry in the sun and it´s pretty solid, it´s crumbly, but ok. I´m gonn try some pine-resin on it.. It seems... you can fire up this ash-clay really hot and it will calcinate.. if you add water again after that it gets quite solid.. that just takes a lot of time and I haven´t gotten it right yet. But as an easy source for clay... I think you should give it a go. I´d love to see your opinion.
A Filipino friend has found a nice outbreak of what appears to be 'Kaolin clay' in her yard. She wanted to know how to determine if it would be suitable for mining, say for cosmetic purposes ?
@@AncientPottery I think I'll stick to trying to mine my backyard soil for clay. At least I won't get arrested for trespassing that way. Just about every piece of land around me is owned by someone. :) Thank you for a fascinating video.
Hey Andy, I watched most of your vids and tried to make my own clay from the soil I have here (northern Europe). For some reason the result doesn’t resemble clay but will break or collapse from just looking at it, a bit like a sand castle. I tired to add more or less sand or replace sand with ground pot shards, but all outcomes were absolute bulls**t. Any suggestions?
It sounds like you don't have clay at all. All clay is dirt but not all dirt is clay. You need to do some searching for a good clay to work with, this may be the hardest part of the process, finding a good clay bed to use.
@@AncientPottery I got it from a small stream, it’s yellowish and more dense than the soil around, I swirled it in water and took what settled down from the solution Update: I just looked up some geological stuff and saw that silt can also float in water and looks clay-like when constantly conducting ground water. So, damn it haha
Have you tried doing a clay test on soil in different areas? Get a mason jar and fill it half way with some dirt (literally any dirt you think might have clay in it) and fill it the rest of the way up with water. Shake it up until everything is broken apart, and then let it settle for a couple of minutes. Everything that isn’t clay should settle pretty quickly. So if you filled half the jar with dirt and only 1/2 of that settles you have about 50% clay in that soil. Then you have a rough idea of the clay content
No, and I have looked. The same issue exists in Phoenix as we have in Tucson, all the good clay is underneath parking lots or housing developments or covered with riprap. Try out by Florence, where Attaway Road crosses the Gila River.
I just stumbled upon one of your videos, which led to watching a few more. I love experimental archeology and would love to give making a bowl a try, but I don’t know how to tell the difference between dirt and clay, if I have any clay, in my yard. I’m on the east coast, so very different area to Arizona. I know I have iron in the dirt, because I found a small deposit of iron ore when digging a trench recently for a shed rebuild, but it felt like crumbly dirt all around where I found the little ore lumps.
The principles are the same wherever you are. Clay has certain properties you can learn to recognize. Since you live in a damp climate it may actually be easier for you since the texture of clay can be recognized. You might learn from this video ua-cam.com/video/nqiJJDzR3vw/v-deo.html
Mine's easy enough to find. Dig a hole in the garden, I can find pure clay, massive chunks, not even very deep. Entire area has it, down one end of the beach there's cliffs that are just pure clay (occasional pebbles & grit). (South east Ireland, I think it's the glacier that dumped them here?)
@@AncientPottery yeah our garden is gorgeous & lush due to hard work my mom put into it. But when we moved in it was clay on the surface, grass & reeds! (marshland around here a bit I think?) We used to play with clay chunks she dug up & make stuff to just dry in the sun! I did put a mini pot or two into our house fire. It did turn that terracotta red, so that was very cool!
Primary clays are more difficult to work with, alluvial clays are better sorted and easier, marine and lacustrine clays are even better sorted and are often the most plastic and workable. But these are generalizations, every clay is different, find and test your own.
Here in North Carolina you can’t help but find clay anytime you dig. Great for pottery, annoying for gardening! I dig a bright red clay in my yard and after slaking it down and passing through sieves it works beautifully for handbuilding, throwing, and firing to cone 04. No temper added!
Awesome, that’s something special you have there.
Thankyou for the reference to "cone 04". I had to research what that meant since I am a total pottery newb. I am in Wisconsin and also have abundant clay on my property...down about two feet and it's unavoidable. I'm also an avid gardener. I stumbled onto Andy's vids when looking into DIY ollas.
I have that in my yard what method do you use to process it???
@@TheBesilas i use the wet method, watering it down to slip then using a mesh screen
Lucky duck, all I have in my yard is rocks!
You live in a geologist's dream. So privileged to hear you speak to it with applied experience and wisdom.
Thanks
this video is unintentionally a really good guide for worldbuilders on how societies can access clay, and which ones have more than others, and which types they have
Very informative and great presentation. Thanks. I’m a palaeontologist in Alberta Canada and I spenD hundreds of hours searching for fossils in our clays. You mentioned a loose clay of the Naco formation. There is a place in Arizona called Kohl’s Ranch. It is in this loose clay that you will find many fossils. Especially brachiopods and crinoids.The clay was once hard and compacted into rocks but has since been ground back into clay particles. This frees the fossils. The Naco formation is middle Pennsylvanian inage or about 300 million years old.
I am familiar with Kohl's Ranch. Thanks for adding your expertise.
One of the best sources I’ve seen on finding clay
Thanks!
Our farm in eastern Ontario Canada sat on what the locals call blue clay that seemed bottomless. My father cursed it because in the spring when it was wet his tractor would get stuck in it. When it dried out it became hard as rock and he had to break it up with the discs so my mom could plant her garden. My mom loved it because her garden grew amazingly well in it. I don't know its geologic origin but this area was once covered in glaciers and was also once the bottom of an ancient sea bed
Interesting. Her garden did well in clay? There is hope yet then!
Howdy Andy, I built my house in Oregon, right on top of a clay deposit. When having a well drilled, I found it's 30-40' to water and then there is an old river bed with sand and gravel. The old neighbors had dynamited pockets, filled them with dirt and grew their apple trees in the pockets. there is about 3 feet of dirt, then 30 feet of clay under my feet anywhere on the property. I dug a pond about 5 feet down. I holds water very well all year. I keep dreaming of things to do with all the clay. I work about 2000 miles from home (Alaska 9 months out of the year), so don't get to spend a lot of time playing with it, but if you're ever in/near/by Oregon in the summer, please do stop by. I can make anything out of it, but once it is out of the ground, I end up wearing it on the bottom of my shoes; it doesn't go away..... Dan heading to Oregon (home) soon.
Clay can be a blessing or a curse if you live on top of it. I know many places here in Arizona have broken foundations because they were built right on top of clay. I'll bet that Oregon clay would be great for making pots, maybe when you retire...
@@AncientPottery I’m also in Oregon just West of Portland in the hills. We have a unique property where we’re midway down our mountain with sloping property. Part of it is more or less wetland and we use that for pasture where we have springs all over our property but there is a bunch of clay there in the route down the middle to our kind of clay bog. It’s yellowish showing that it’s high also in organic content. Down a bit further to our creek we have clay deposits down inside (it’s like a 5ft ravine) with green clay? 😳 also brown and reddish clay. How would I tell which KIND of clays these are from the various colors- I know they’re probably all riverbed clay, but the different mineral compositions make it hard for me to figure out how to process them? I think I have a short video up showing them, I can’t remember.
I'm from MN. We have the Decorah shale formation. The shale does make for good clay, just takes more work as the clay is compressed and needs to be agitated ( I use a paint mixer on my drill) to loosen up the clay from the shale it has been pressed into.
Just watched a few of your videos on finding and processing wild clay and I have no idea if I'll ever use this knowledge but I love that these videos exist and that I have learned something new. Thank you!
You are welcome
I’m only just getting into pottery but as a kid I used to wade in the lake at my parents’ cottage in Newfoundland, Canada and dig up sheets of what we’d call “pug”…it was dark grey and texturally reminds me very much of the white clay I’ve been using in my class. I could pry up sections about 3 inches thick and as big as I could carry to shore and we’d hand build it into little bowls (which would ultimately break because we had no way to fire it) or dissolve it to slip and rub it all over ourselves as “spa treatments”. Does this sound like something I could make pottery with? I still know all the best spots and am willing to go back in the lake - haha.
Interesting, maybe decent clay.
Not in to pottery per se, but building a greenhouse and storage building using on-site materials. Thank you for your interesting videos on the subject. These videos will be useful for my projects.
Thanks, I am glad to hear that you are enjoying my content.
Just wanted to say you have an amazing channel. Just the niche I'm looking for. Very informative, well made, and entertaining. I'm not kissing no a** but I appreciate your love for the history and art of pottery.
Thanks a lot.
This is a wonderful intro to riverine minerology. Thank you!
You're very welcome!
Really interesting. I love how you've taken a bunch of people interested in craft and given us a nature documentary! I'd also be keen to see you do a follow up video of types of clay found in tropical, coastal or alpine regions (if you ever travel outside your state) . Thanks.
Thanks. The same clay types exist around the world, the only type of clay we are lacking here in Arizona is glacial clay. This is an old video and could use an update now.
I found grey rocks in our creek bed in East Texas that turned out to be clay. I’m really wanting to try to make something out of it. Do you have any idea what kind of clay it might be? I find them in various size chunks
Love your channel. My son kept telling me that he could make clay easily because we're surrounded by it, but I was skeptical and about to order a bunch until one of your videos popped up in my recommendations, which kind of makes me wonder if my phone is "listening" to us, haha, but anyway thanks for the information!
Awesome, listen to your son. Ha ha.
To answer your question, yes, they are listening to us. Thats what cookies are for, easier for companies to advertise content to you
This is super fun. Our local weather has not been agreeable with clay collecting, but I know right where to go. The colors are absolutely AMAZING; Pinks, Burgundies, Orange, Brown.
That's great, the anticipation waiting for the weather to clear up...
@@AncientPottery It's GLORIOUS, today. =D
My boyfriend just picked some alluvial clay up for me. He found some that looks like it was washed up on the side of the road with the rain It looks really pure with maybe a little bit of plant matter. I'm so excited!
Great!
Thank you for this video, I had just sourced some wild clay prior to watching this without much of an idea what I was doing. Luckily my old foraging trick of using place names was also useful here, I collected from "clay wood" in my local area. Now to binge watch all your content so I can begin my experiments in earnest. What a fantastic resource you are providing, I am very grateful.
Awesome video. Great tutorial. I'll be using dried clay to make metal casting sand and your video really helps me with locating clay deposits.
That's great, glad to help!
Thank you Clay dude
Any time!
I love this channel and I’m not that into pottery! But the production is phenomenal and the information is great!
Thanks for sharing your knowledge we have a pond and a stream in our woods and that is where i find my clay for Yaki-ire=clay tempering of swords and knives. I found your channel by trying to learn how to remove the dirt from clay.
Great, thanks
Thank you for this video. It’s helping me locate clays better
Glad it helped
Here in Deep East Texas we have red clay and blue, "Gumbo Mud"...clay. I didn't grow up here so I was familiar with the Gumbo mud until I helped my husband dig a well. We started hand digging but eventually resorted to pushing a steel pipe into the ground passing through gumbo mud. Husband told me if I wanted some out of the pipe I'd better get it while it was wet because once it dried I wouldn't be able to get it. Of course, I didn't listen. Yup. Next day when I attempted to retrieve the now dry substance out of the pipe...it wasn't budging. That pipe got used for a gate...with gumbo mud still intact. For all these years I've threatened to collect our mud and try my hand at firing some pottery. You've inspired me to get off my duff and get it done!
Sounds cool, I hope that gumbo works good for pottery
I liked this very much and so glad to have found you! I have many years of pottery experiences, mostly all in school. From jr high through 3 different college's. Needless to say I love it, and been away from it for too long. Thanks for the swift kick in the butt!
I am glad you are enjoying my content and I am glad to provide kicks in the butt as needed.
❤ Absolutely. Love you. I'm really trying to pay attention for the tilt. I absolutely love watching. You are really good at informing about plays because you yourself rent the hardway
Hey, I am absolutely digging your content ! I’m in northern Vermont. Out here we have high levels of play in our subsoil. It’s a gray clay. When I was outback, running the kayak out of little creek, I came across huge bed of smooth, gray clay under the water. It’s like it has been washed clean! I’m hoping to go back this Summer and start breaking out some lumps and processing it. I can’t wait! Your channel has giving me the confidence that I can actually do this. I’ve never done anything with pottery, but I want to so bad. I love the southwest, and the rich native history. I’m going to see if there is some Northeast Native American techniques For pottery and see if I can emulate that.
That sounds cool. There is Native pottery in the northeast. Have fun!
I live on a flood plane in Texas absolutely saturated with clay. I’m working on digging it up and filtering it. Hopefully I can make jewelry pieces, pit fire them like you’ve shown us, and I can share this art with the community. I’d also like to make a kick wheel for throwing. I’m so excited to try this ancient art. Thank you for your videos!
Sounds like some cool ideas.
I'm building a wheel with the base and pedal of an antique sewing machine.
Thanks for all the videos, very helpful. Got Sand on top of red clay sand mix above iron ore above more clay then sand potable water zone. All within 20 ft surface here. Nice part is, I have more than 20ft change in elevation on this land. Dig down from top of hill to about 50ft and I have lignite coal. Don't need coal though, trees grow like weeds here. Being retired, I am focused on using resources here in as many of the old way as possible to build my home.
That’s cool, everything you need is at your fingertips. I’m glad you are enjoying my videos.
I live in Juneau, Alaska and we have what appears to be very clay-like deposits around our glacial lakes and rivers. We always call it silt -- and it's super slick to walk on! Would that make good pottery? Just happened on your channel for the first time. Very interesting!
Hmm, interesting. I know people in Alaska who use glacial clays, the difference between silts and clays would be that the clay is plastic and moldable and dries hard. Give it a try
Thank you! ... Very helpful. Well produced. Great examples in the wild.
Thank you
Andy Wards ancient pottery: Tyvk 4 sharing the benefit of Your knowledge! :)
You bet!
Thank you for creating these videos!
Glad you like them!
This was super informative. Thank you!!
Just out of curiosity, can you find good clay in the bottoms of rivers or lakes? There's not many where I live, but I was visiting one once and noticed that it felt either very claylike and was very plastic or very sandy depending on the area, so I was curious about whether it would work or not.
Great video by the way.
Yes clay naturally settles to the bottoms of still water so that is a great place to find it
Can you make a video about finding white clay? I love gathering wild clay but i love the color of porcelain for delicate work
White clay is rare, there are no secrets to finding it, it is just where it is. Some areas have lots and some areas have none.
@@AncientPottery good to know! I just found that i can remove iron out of powdered filtered wild clay with a strong magnet, I wonder if it will significantly lower the redness. Have you ever heard of that?
@@2ndPortalinteresting
I also live on the San Pedro, Mammoth Arizona. I have found many shards in my yard of many colors and a few with interesting painting, stripes or dots. And even more stone tools. Mostly scrapers, almost always made of beautiful stone, thin but strong and sharp with little teeth. I have a hypothesis that these scrapers weren't just used to scrape hides but also cut and scrape fibers and wood (like az ash or yucca) to make baskets. A few axes and many spear tips but no actual 'arrow heads'. Oh, and some fabulous historical glass as my yard was where they dumped the glass. Old adobe bar/dance hall 1870's with an insane back story. Bisbee might be a living 'ghost town' whereas Mammoth is an actual Ghost Town lol
Anyway, your videos have inspired me to hunt wild clays. When I get my new computer I'm totally signing up for your online classes!
Wonderful. I was just out exploring for clays in your area recently. When you sign up for the class I will send you directions to a couple good clays in your area.
@@AncientPottery awesome, ty. I will sign up now then :)
Oh shoot. I can't find the link to sign up for your classes. Can you please give me the link for that?
@@maggiefranks6849 ancientpottery.how/classes/
Thank you for showing me where I can find the clay I don’t have a way to get out there but I sure will try
You're welcome
so glad i found your channel. love the content. thank you.
Welcome!
I collected some marine clay which is washed away daily by the sea. I am wet processing it but wondered if salt content is an issue e.g. when firing? Thanks, love your videos, great educational content 👍
I have Clay from a creek bend that has gray chunks and burns red. It is hard to get out of the ground it smashes and compresses when I am trying to to dig it out.
I live in tn where the ground is basically red clay. But after separating the clay using water and filters, forming simple cylinder pots, adding temper, and wood/charcoal firing. The pots will resist falling apart or "melting" in the rain and water but has no strength. It breaks super easily. Any suggestions why it does that?
Hmm, my guess would be that either you ended up with too much temper which can make pottery brittle, or you didn't fire hot enough. Experiment to find the answer.
Does the dry color of clay indicate the fired color?
Perhaps a crazy question, but, can I make any pottery items using bags of bentonite bought in local feedstores?
Thanks Andy, this is a very helpful topic. I live near Albany N.Y., and my yard is full of high quality ancient glacial lakebed clay. It’s about 8 inches down below the top soil and runs about 18 inches deep before a layer of shale below the clay. There appears to be a grey and red variety swirled together in most places. It is extremely sticky when wet. Of the varieties mentioned, what types do you use for what purposes ? For example pottery vs say bricks. I’m curious what what would be the best use for this type of clay that I have. Thanks again for your great station.
You are welcome. All of the clays I mention here can be usable for pottery but every individual deposit has different properties so experimentation is required to see what can be done with a given clay. My main clays that I use for building pottery are a primary and an alluvial.
Anyone have experience looking in the new england area? We don't really have these big expanses of mostly empty soil. Anywhere there aren't buildings there's likely to be trees and foliage, and it doesn't seem like most of the exposed soil has much clay
Try road cuts and construction sites
I live in a valley and clay is everywhere, if I dig anywhere I hit clay. Its both a blessing and a curse.
thanks so much for these videos. just a suggestion, I'm sure it would be appreciated if you equalized the volume between the music and your voice? sometimes the sound pick up of your voice is very quiet and then the music comes in very loud.... had to keep turning my headphones up to hear you and then quickly back down before the music blew out my eardrums. just a small thing but makes a big difference so i can focus on the good info
Very helpful im trying to improve sandy soils by adding some clay
To use as a slip, does the clay have to be levigated and only the very finest particles used? Or can the body just be thinned down enough with water?
It depends on the clay used. Some clays are rather pure straight from the earth and others need to be purified before they are suitable for slip.
I live near southern Utah and found red, yellow,red/purple, and white/gray. It seems like the yellow clay is a lot more gelatinous and thickens up real quickly. Reddish purple clay does the same but seems to have more body. The red clay has a lot more sand in it.
I'm wondering what the mineral content could be in these and if they are useful for pottery?. I suspect the yellow could have sulfur. I know the Reds have iron oxide. The whitish-gray possibly Lime but also a lot of silt. I found all these deposits on the steppes of a reservoir where there is occasional thermal activity nearby (hot pots). They were all found in the same vicinity of each other and in veins, if that makes sense? I also found chocolate brown clay in Colorado that settles really fast, not sure why this is? Also found green clay but no sign of BioLife as I have encountered in past clays.
Hey I'm so excited and I would like to know more about these!. I have recently become fascinated by Clay and came across your very informative video!
Can you find clean a compound in Nigeria?
What is Georgia red clay? and would it be good for anything besides bricks?
I know people who make pottery from that red Georgia clay. I don’t know enough about it to tell you what kind of clay it is though. If I had to guess I would say primary but it’s just an uneducated guess.
I don't know anything about pottery but I do hunt clay for my niece who loves everything pottery. Great video!
I wish I was smart enough to describe what I find or even ask the question I want to ask but I'll try. In some very old drainage ditches that have cut below the topsoil into the prehistoric ocean bottom (I live in the PNW) I will find a grayish-white substance that is harder than a clay but softer than a rock that can be crumbled into a fine powder. I would love to know if I can process this into clay... I found it last year and now the river is too high to extract any without significant effort but if it's usable I'd put in the effort...
Thank you for all this information 🙏❤
You are so welcome
Love your videos.
Keep making them.
Thanks
Hi, I see you call the red clay primary clay along with the other types. I dug some red clay on my farm and have had it sitting since last year, it's really sticky. I had it in a bucket with a sieve that allowed water to drain off of it. Anyway, I've seen it referred to as "plain ole brick clay" that doesn't sound good. Can it be used for pottery or sculpting or am I stuck with just plain old brick clay? Thanks.
The color doesn't have anything to do with the type. It is primary because of the way it was deposited. All clays are different, I hope your "plain ole brick clay" turns out to be good.
I live in northern Utah and most rock around me is limestone. I know that there is a lot of clay in the subsoil having dug a lot of fencepost holes. I have heard that this kind of clay is undesirable. Is that true? If so, why is that?
Limestone in your clay can cause your pottery to break. So you either need to make sure there are no pieces of limestone in your clay or fire below 900 C.
Question. Do you always get your clay outdoors or do you purchase clay? and where?
I rarely purchase clay. I recently bought some red micaceous clay from New Mexico Clay.
Very interesting video. Seen videos of both dried and completely water logged clays, but nothing like what I describe. I'm wondering if I am really remembering this--but when I was around ten I was digging around near a pond (with hands) and found what appeared to be quite pure red clay that was moldable and soft. Was able to take it home and play with it, would go back again and again. Can't believe I invented this whole memory but I can't find any videos that look like the stuff I found. I was interested in art even back then and recognized the stuff as similar to what I got in art class. BTW, in Wisconsin--huge areas in Wisconsin were under glaciers. True or not so true memory?
Could be. All clay is different and some wild clays are near perfect right from the ground.
Very informative! Thanks for creating.
You are welcome. Thanks for watching
Thank you for this video. Well done!
My pleasure!
Wonder if you can pull it from marine beds before they’re dry… got a spot where my dad used to take me clamming…
I have a gray close to black layer of clay in my black yard. I plan to use it someday.
Yes, it might be wonderful.
Now I am learning at a center so clays are store bought, but where do you get stoneware clay?
The "stoneware" designation just refers to the ability of the clay to withstand very high temperatures. Many wild clays can be stonewares and many melt at that temperature, you just need to test them to find out how high you can fire them. See this video on that process ua-cam.com/video/lbVXOHO5TsE/v-deo.html
hello :) i live in iceland sooo the dirt never really dries enough to crack or crumble. and tips on finding clay in cold climates ?
Well clay is clay, if it is wet it is easier to find because it looks and feels like clay. Look for tire tracks on dirt roads.
I like this simple division of clay into primary and the 3 secondary. How common is it for clay that has been compacted/lithified into some sort of tuff, shale, mudstone or claystone to weather back into clay ? Is there a way of telling weather small clay deposits surrounded by tuff, shale or mudstone have failed to lithify or been formed by reweathering of lithified material. Does it make any practical difference?
On a technical note, could you make the narration slightly louder and the music between the narrations slightly quieter ?
When listening with earbuds the music is a little too loud.
Sorry about that, I am a slow learner on video editing but I am making progress slowly.
Thank you Andy. This was perfect.
You're very welcome
North America here! I have a backyard full of redish brown wild clay, and I decided to try wet processing it for the first time, well I strained it a couple different times, and ended with a large bit of clay at the end, but it's grainy/gritty. Is this a good quality? Do I still have to add a temper or will whatever is in it work as one? Do I have to do the wet process all over again?
It depends on how much grit and how much shrinkage the clay has. Do some experiments and see how it does. This video can help ua-cam.com/video/l4QjKYP3fGk/v-deo.html
@@AncientPottery the coil test proved harder than I thought it would be. I couldn't even make it into a pinch pot, it kept falling apart. The clay I left out to dry hardened up nicely, and had alot of strength strength, but it disintegrated pretty quickly once wet.
Hi Andy. I'm looking to find the appropriate clay for plastering straw walls internally, I'm based in Ireland and I have access to ' Macamore' clay. Is this ok or not the right type ? Thanks
I can't say I know much about using clay as a plaster. I have never heard of Macamore clay so I really couldn't say
Thank you
Great show
Es una muy buena explicación . Congratulation
Muchas gracias.
you're the best! love your content man.
you remind me of a mix between my uncle and a camp counselor, but its a good mix.
Thanks... (I think)
Dude, you need to visit SLC. I’m sure we could bring enough people together to make it worth your while. I have noticed some deposits of clay around my place.
Sounds fun. If you are serious, send me an email detailing what you have in mind ancientpottery.how/contact-us/
yes i have a question, please, why the compressed clay, as i saw you showing there, almost rock but still clay, is not possible to make potterie anymore??? Because, i found that same clay in here, i didn t try to potterie with it yet, still on water to see if it can get soft and plastic...
Some clays that have been compressed can be softened and used, others that have become shale cannot be used. It is always worth soaking to see if it will soften up.
@@AncientPottery thank s for the help, i think i have somo clay with millions and millions years old...rock, but with wonderfull color, purple, maby with a lot of copper
There is a clay mine near my house (pacific clay is the company name) and you can pull up chunks bigger than your head from the water holes they dig( I think it’s so the clay collects in the pool)
Forgot to thank you for makin the video dude! Very informative
Very cool, try it out and see how it works. The clay mine near my house is used for making bricks and it is not so great for pottery.
Thanks!
@@AncientPottery Darn haha that tells me what i need to know because the mine is making bricks.
Gracias, had fun watching the video :)
Glad you enjoyed it!
Can you do a video on making clay pots with beach sand? Hawaii has beautiful black sand! There's red sand beaches, and also white sand beaches. That would be cook to see on video! :)
You can't make pots with sand, but you can add some sand to your clay. I do know that Hawaii has some beautiful red clay.
Yourvideos are very interesting and informative. Thank you
Glad you like them! You are welcome.
Look, It's my favorite nerd. I really enjoy your content, Keep up the good work.
Thanks, will do!
You know sow many things about clay and maby you know wich one clay, we use to make fire bricks?
I mean fireproof bricks. We mix the clay with cement for thoses clay or just clay? Thank you and hapy the new year sir.
I am in the East coast of the U.S. Is it the same principles and types of clay to be found here?
Sure, these different kinds of clay are universal. The only type of clay we don't have here in the southwest that you may find is glacial clay.
That was great , how plastic is the red clay you showed us and the white
kaolinwasher the red is okay, the white is real plastic but also has a high shrinkage rate so is best used as a slip. Probably the best building clay shown here is that grey alluvial clay I showed by the river, that’s pretty good stuff.
I tried burning a lot of paper that was sent to me, during a year.. The fly ash, mixed with water has very, very fine particles.. left it to dry in the sun and it´s pretty solid, it´s crumbly, but ok. I´m gonn try some pine-resin on it.. It seems... you can fire up this ash-clay really hot and it will calcinate.. if you add water again after that it gets quite solid.. that just takes a lot of time and I haven´t gotten it right yet. But as an easy source for clay... I think you should give it a go. I´d love to see your opinion.
You can’t make clay from paper ash. It may be clay-like but it’s not the same.
How do you find the cone, these clays should be fired at ?
Where can I find the shale I live near Maricopa AZ I wld love to find some ll let me know if you can show me or tell me that wld be great
A Filipino friend has found a nice outbreak of what appears to be 'Kaolin clay' in her yard. She wanted to know how to determine if it would be suitable for mining, say for cosmetic purposes ?
thanks for sharing your knowledge.
My pleasure!
Time to go get some more alluvial clay!
It's almost everywhere on earth so that shouldn't be too hard.
@@AncientPottery I think I'll stick to trying to mine my backyard soil for clay. At least I won't get arrested for trespassing that way. Just about every piece of land around me is owned by someone. :) Thank you for a fascinating video.
Very good information I enjoyed
Glad you enjoyed it
Hey Andy, I watched most of your vids and tried to make my own clay from the soil I have here (northern Europe). For some reason the result doesn’t resemble clay but will break or collapse from just looking at it, a bit like a sand castle. I tired to add more or less sand or replace sand with ground pot shards, but all outcomes were absolute bulls**t. Any suggestions?
It sounds like you don't have clay at all. All clay is dirt but not all dirt is clay. You need to do some searching for a good clay to work with, this may be the hardest part of the process, finding a good clay bed to use.
@@AncientPottery I got it from a small stream, it’s yellowish and more dense than the soil around, I swirled it in water and took what settled down from the solution
Update: I just looked up some geological stuff and saw that silt can also float in water and looks clay-like when constantly conducting ground water. So, damn it haha
@@pascalbaryamo4568 if it’s not cohesive, won’t stick together and easily crumbles, it’s not clay.
@@AncientPottery ok I figure it will be more efficient long term to buy clay from an arts supply anyway ^^
Have you tried doing a clay test on soil in different areas? Get a mason jar and fill it half way with some dirt (literally any dirt you think might have clay in it) and fill it the rest of the way up with water. Shake it up until everything is broken apart, and then let it settle for a couple of minutes. Everything that isn’t clay should settle pretty quickly.
So if you filled half the jar with dirt and only 1/2 of that settles you have about 50% clay in that soil. Then you have a rough idea of the clay content
Do you know of a place to find clay in the east valley of Phoenix?
No, and I have looked. The same issue exists in Phoenix as we have in Tucson, all the good clay is underneath parking lots or housing developments or covered with riprap. Try out by Florence, where Attaway Road crosses the Gila River.
I just stumbled upon one of your videos, which led to watching a few more. I love experimental archeology and would love to give making a bowl a try, but I don’t know how to tell the difference between dirt and clay, if I have any clay, in my yard. I’m on the east coast, so very different area to Arizona. I know I have iron in the dirt, because I found a small deposit of iron ore when digging a trench recently for a shed rebuild, but it felt like crumbly dirt all around where I found the little ore lumps.
The principles are the same wherever you are. Clay has certain properties you can learn to recognize. Since you live in a damp climate it may actually be easier for you since the texture of clay can be recognized. You might learn from this video ua-cam.com/video/nqiJJDzR3vw/v-deo.html
I got told to watch out for lead. Is lead just in the paint that decorates the outside? Do you have to glaze the inside?
lead is sometimes added to pottery as a glaze which could be inside or out. You do not have to glaze at all.
@@AncientPottery Thank you. My mom had a clay pot . She made the best beans in it.
Now I live in New York the city of Bronx It’s really kinda hard to find some
No doubt
Mine's easy enough to find. Dig a hole in the garden, I can find pure clay, massive chunks, not even very deep. Entire area has it, down one end of the beach there's cliffs that are just pure clay (occasional pebbles & grit). (South east Ireland, I think it's the glacier that dumped them here?)
That is very cool. Bad for gardening but great for pottery.
@@AncientPottery yeah our garden is gorgeous & lush due to hard work my mom put into it. But when we moved in it was clay on the surface, grass & reeds! (marshland around here a bit I think?)
We used to play with clay chunks she dug up & make stuff to just dry in the sun! I did put a mini pot or two into our house fire. It did turn that terracotta red, so that was very cool!
just wondering if the different categories of clays have different properties?
Primary clays are more difficult to work with, alluvial clays are better sorted and easier, marine and lacustrine clays are even better sorted and are often the most plastic and workable. But these are generalizations, every clay is different, find and test your own.
Very useful
video. Thank you !
Your welcome.
Where would I find clay here in Ketchikan Alaska?
I've never been to Alaska, but clay is available in most areas around the world. Perhaps glacial clay can be found in your area.