Come Wild Clay Hunting With Me

[@AncientPottery]

This video will help you to learn to identify and find wild clay but if you already have some wild clay and need to know how to process it into a good, workable material check out this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/q2e1nXuJfJmWj5Y

[@mortyrickerson6322]

This channel is incredible. I absolutely adore the quality of videos you put out! Thank you SO much for all the work you do and for sharing your knowledge. May the force be with you and your loved ones my friend!

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you so much, I could use a little of the force right now.

[@spacejihadist4246]

After watching so many of your videos, I decided to find some clay and just found a lot of red clay just meters away from my house. I made some small coil pots but I haven't fired them yet because its been raining all week.

[@AncientPottery]

That's awesome, I hope your firing goes well.

[@spacejihadist4246]

@@AncientPottery I hope so too. I can't wait for the rain to stop.

[@banksarenotyourfriends]

Yesterday I fired my first ever pot! After being inspired by yourself and Tony Soares to have a go at finding wild clay and making something. I really must thank you for making all of these videos Andy. From the level of detail you go into to the editing, I really love what you do here. You have made pottery accessible to someone that otherwise would never have tried it, I don't have the words to express how grateful I am for the time and knowledge you have shared. I will never be a master potter, but the satisfaction one can get from making something with your own hands - and from DIRT no less - is hard to explain. All the best to you.

[@AncientPottery]

Glad I could help. And thanks for the kind words.

[@banksarenotyourfriends]

@@AncientPottery I'm from the UK, so I've decided for my second pot I will attempt one of the beakers that the Bell-Beaker culture brought to Britain around 2000BC, and then work my way forwards in time from there! Perhaps I'll upload some videos and document my progress. Thank you again, for introducing me to a new hobby. I'll be sure to pass on the knowledge you've shared to my kids.

[@jcknives4162]

Like Wes said. I look forward to Wednesday mornings. I have a metric butt ton of clay on my property in Judith Gap MT. When I fired it and then let the test tiles sit, about 3 weeks later I noticed loose parts and some of the clay broke or was let loose. I hadn’t done anything with it. So I talked to our friend in Helena and decided to make a trip to see him. I took some dried and ground clay to him. He poured a little vinegar and low and behold it fizzed. Calcium carbonate. Hahaha. Then on the broken areas of my test tiles I saw these white dots. Calcium carbonate. Now I am levigating most of it out. So, your comment about testing when you get home sure paid a dividend before I made projects that would fall apart over time. It should be noted that the test tiles that broke up were all cone 04 up to cone 3. At cone 4 my clay began to loose form. Too hot. Lol Thanks Andy!!

[@AncientPottery]

Or like I am doing with this caliche clay I collected in this video, fire low. Thanks for the personal clay story.

[@jcknives4162]

@@AncientPottery I did do that with my test tiles. I fired one at Cone 017, then 015. Both were free of the effects from higher temperatures but the 017 tile was not very strong. Clearly the 015 was stronger but not nearly as strong as the higher cone firing clays. These cones are below 840c. So now I’ll fire another at 012 which is as close as I can come to the 840c or I’ll set a temp of 840c and see how that works. I do have witness cones too so I can ensure my firing is accurate. Glad you commented about the low firing solution.

[@jcknives4162]

@@AncientPottery it turns out 840c is 1544f and cone 13 comes up to that temp pretty good. I’ll be leaving my plugs (air flow) out for good oxidation.

[@airstreamwanderings3683]

I always look forward to Wednesday mornings. Thanks

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks Wes.

[@rehoboth_farm]

Thank you so much. I've been doing some experiments with my native soil to see if it would be useful. Partially out of expedience I have taken several samples from crayfish mounds in flooded areas and this seems to work very well for this process. So far I haven't fired anything but it seems to be a very fine clay with just a little bit of grit that falls out with levigation. The deposit is a thick alluvial clay which rests on a base of limestone material called Austin Chalk. In more recent times, geologically speaking, this area was a grassland prairie which would regularly be swept by wildfires. I find a pretty substantial amount of very fine black matter after levigation that seems to be burned organic matter, carbon or charcoal. After I remove this charcoal material the product is substantially lighter on the order of a chocolate milk color where it started off as a very dark brown sometimes approaching a blue-black color depending on the sample. I've been using a piece of window screen to screen out this carbon material. I plan on getting a paint filter bag like you mentioned in another video. That would help a lot. If a slip like coating of this material is allowed to dry on the side of a smooth surface like the inside of a bucket it has a buttery smooth texture like a soap or wax like you describe. It is almost like beeswax. On problem that I have had is that it seems to be VERY sticky until nearly leather hard. I think this may be the result of a high magnesium content. Even if the sticky nature makes it too difficult to hand work, I'm new at this, I think it might still be really useful for slip molds. I'm actually really surprised that I haven't had more shrinkage cracking. I also have a pecan orchard and therefore an endless supply of pecan stick wood that I can use to do some primitive firing. I'm encouraged to see that I can literally walk out in my front yard and make something with nothing but materials I can pick up. Again, thank you so much for doing these videos.

[@AncientPottery]

I met a lady at the kiln conference this year who was from Louisiana and she uses crawfish mound clay to good effect too. Just about any wild clay needs to be tempered and the addition of temper will mitigate your stickiness issue. Thanks for sharing your experience.

[@kkirsch3583]

Andy thank you so much for this video! I wish I’d known about your wild clay expedition; I’d have loved to join you and learn😊. I’ll keep on hunting and learning! Thank you again!

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks. I have scheduled wild clay workshops over the past few years in the fall and they are always poorly attended. I think I am going to stop trying.

[@kkirsch3583]

@@AncientPottery I understand; that would be terribly discouraging 💔 I really love your work and am enchanted with your channel! You have opened up amazing worlds and history through pottery; you’ve introduced me to the beautiful history of the southwest; I cannot thank you enough🤗

[@sheryl3268]

@@AncientPottery Please don't stop trying! My husband and I almost did it this year but had some personal things come up and couldn't. Same thing happened with going to the conference in Silver City. We hope to make it to a future one. There are probably others like us. I understand the feeling though. Maybe not promote it a bunch.. just make a date, have a deadline, and if you don't get the minimum you want, skip it. No need to advertize it more than saying the info here and on your site? Love your content here and appreciate all you do! Thanks!

[@AncientPottery]

@@sheryl3268 Thanks!

[@AncientPottery]

@@kkirsch3583 You are so welcome, I love doing it

[@markgibsons_SWpottery]

That David Az. clay and the caliche look to be the only ones I wouldn't use,... the rest of them look like winners! Thanks again! Love this stuff!!!

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks! The caliche clay, is actually about the best clay in the bunch, calcium content aside.

[@SugoDiGatto]

Great video, just the update I needed; I've been binging your content for the past few days, and I never thought clay was just so ubiquitous! I love crafting all sorts of stuff, and seeing how simple pottery can be, I'll surely give it a shot the upcoming spring; I can already tell where to find clay just by memory, recalling those tyre tracks and crackled puddle beds I have often seen cycling around!

[@AncientPottery]

That's great, glad you enjoyed it.

[@dariosinapellido7812]

Hello Andy, maybe one day you should try firing pieces in a profesional kiln, just to see what happens. I've tried it and my clay isn't good enough, it shrinks a lot and it acquires a light reddish color, like a building brick.

[@AncientPottery]

It varies from clay to clay. Some people have used certain wild clay from Arizona in kilns to good effect and other clays go to pieces. You have to experiment to find out what temperature yours can handle. I personally have no interest in kilns but might some day do a video just to show people how to test their clays in a kiln, but it's really not that difficult.

[@janetsmith9380]

If I lived close by I would have signed up for your class! Thanks for all your videos!

[@AncientPottery]

You are so welcome!

[@germanus7302]

im glad you posted this! I'm going to Nogales in a week to visit family and I think it would be cool to take my nieces clay-hunting and hopefully fire some stuff. i got a short timeline so i'll have to get creative with the cleaning rehydration & drying processes to have it ready in two weeks, but I think we will enjoy it whatever the results

[@AncientPottery]

2 weeks is plenary of time in this dry climate. Should be a fun project to do with kids.

[@kkirsch3583]

Merry Christmas🎄❣️

[@AncientPottery]

That's very nice of you

[@opusydaisy6563]

Andy have you ever searched for clay in Mohave County along the river? As kids try to dig to the other side of the world 😁, on a river beach, we would get so deep we hit clay. Not sure how good it was.

[@AncientPottery]

My friend @tonysoaresnativeclays1434 told me that he first discovered clay playing with it along the Colorado River as a child. I have not had the opportunity to check out any of the clays in that area, as that part of Arizona is a long way from me.

[@opusydaisy6563]

When I can afford to go to my mom in Mohave valley I will look for some clay and see how it works out.

[@jessegreywolf]

its very interesting seeing the difference between where you harvest clay and where i do. The main difference is that my clay all comes from active river banks and it never dried out. I can tell what is going to be a workable plastic clay just by looking at it

[@AncientPottery]

Even my clays that come from river banks are often dried out.

[@Der_Kleine_Mann]

Thank you so much for making these videos about finding wild clay and making pottery. I just found out that the earth here where I live in Germany contains a bunch of Clay, and so I will soon start to experiment with it. I haven't made anything with clay in quite a while, besides from digging a hole in the ground and planting some new berrie bushes, but now it's really itching in my fingers to try making some pottery with the wild clay from my garden.

[@AncientPottery]

Awesome, I am glad to help. Have fun

[@acavoxnegledajtelevizor401]

I like wild clay hunting videos 😁

[@AncientPottery]

I am glad to provide them.

[@jasongannon7676]

National geology servay maps show clay deposits. Thay are very easy to find online

[@AncientPottery]

Yes sir, I find them difficult to work with but yes, that data is available for every inch of the United States

[@angeladazlich7145]

I like that Benson clay. Ran out, gotta get more.

[@AncientPottery]

It's a long way to come for clay but worth the drive.

[@tatovive]

Another amazing learning experience. Damn man..thank you!

[@AncientPottery]

You're welcome.

[@yeshuas5172]

I like your red car song - giggle :D

[@AncientPottery]

The other verses you missed which landed on the cutting room floor...

[@janewhite2331]

This was really interesting but one thing you said has puzzled me and that was when you said that sometimes age can improve the clay. But as both the clay and the water are both already ancient, how can they be made more aged? I apologise if this is a really dumb question

[@AncientPottery]

I did not say that.

[@AncientPottery]

Some other people sometimes make a big deal about aging clay, I don't. It can make a small difference, especially in the first hour or two after it is mixed as the water penetrates between all the little clay particles but the difference after a couple hours is pretty marginal.

[@markgibsons_SWpottery]

In china the clay is mixed with milk and aged for over a hundred years for grand children to use. in case you wanted to know the extreme answer, some clays have been aged for over 300 years... so I have read! Love this stuff!

[@petrapetrakoliou8979]

I read about japanese potters aging their clay 100 years. I suppose these are bad clays which gett better by the development of micro fungi which help to hold the clay together. A similar effect could be obtained just by grinding fine plants into the clay and you don't have to wait 100 years.

[@wisecoconut5]

I go through Benson twice a year. I can't wait to check it out!

[@jasongannon7676]

Your video are great, keep them coming

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks, will do!

[@crystalsteffins]

Any tips on finding clay in areas that are constantly wet? It has rained here at least every other day for months... we would have to be in a serious drought for me to see the crackled dry surfaces of clay here right now.

[@AncientPottery]

Well I think we all know what wet clay is like, that is a lot easier to know by the feel. But because I live in Arizona I can only show what I have here. It would be great to be able to travel to different parts of the country to hunt clay in some future video. Some of the advice here is applicable anywhere like car tracks in the mud and barren banks.

[@acavoxnegledajtelevizor401]

Just take some soil and test it on wet strength and plastificy. Andy have some videos about that

[@airstreamwanderings3683]

@@AncientPottery Feel it, wet clay is slippery, silky, & sticky. Go to construction sites and look at the strata where they dig. Look where there are natural cuts in the land like streams, rivers, roadcuts. If you walk and your boots glob up with lots of mud, its clay. Andy has the luxury of pure clay sources. Where I live it is often filled with lots of gravel and sand. It sticks together in big hard clumps.

[@sheilam4964]

I had to pause this vid at the calichy clay part because I want to ask a question before I forget it. Since its calcium content is so high, is it a good source of lime, lime wash, or something like that?

[@AncientPottery]

Hmm, not sure. Even being full of caliche it still has a lot more clay than calcium. In this area calcium is pretty common not far away you can get limestone in the Mule Mountains which would be a much better potential source of lime.

[@sheilam4964]

@@AncientPottery- ok. Thank you.

[@chrisinkansas8507]

Nice video. Happy Holidays, Andy!

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks Chris! Stay warm up there.

[@IllD.]

Any plans on making plates or other modern kitchen pottery?

[@AncientPottery]

You certainly can make such things

[@nancyso5361]

I living in Hongkong, and I will try to look for clay when I go to hiking.

[@joedraskinis5675]

Pretty excited finding your videos. I have a question on clay layers found at the beach (specifically Long Beach California). After severe erosion a layer of clay is revealed at low tide lines. As a metal detectorist it excites me because the clay layer stops the sinking of heavy gold and silver that we hunt. BUT now I am thinking of harvesting that clay at my next opportunity. It appears to be pure clay gray in color. Is this suitable for use? Would it need special treatment because of the immersion in sea water? Any further info would be appreciated. Thanks!

[@MrLolskis]

Hi there, I just stumbled across your channel. Needless to say I'm addicted, planning to head out and look for some clay this weekend! I'm a geologist up in Phoenix, I'd love to chat sometime about your favorite clay spots in the state. I'm very familiar with the geology of the state, but never thought of it in regards to pottery and wild clay. Anyways, love the videos!

[@AncientPottery]

Lots of good clay in Arizona but I have always had trouble locating any around Phoenix. Some decent clays over along the Gila near Florence and also near Tonto Creek near Roosevelt Lake. White slip clay can be found near Horseshoe Reservoir. Have fun out there!

[@JJones-q2f]

Jut found you! I would have joined your hunt for clay, but sadly I am in the North East! Enjoying your channel! Looking forward to getting started!

[@wildchildatart]

There's a road in southern new mexico that runs through barren land. We found these weird mounds as we drove through. Looked like we were on another planet. The mounds had this powdery red clay. My husband said it was clay at least. Have you ever seen that?

[@caroltaylor4855]

Haha! Those images of cracked ruts are spitting duplicates of the ones I drive by everyday. I’m all fired up to give it a try now thanks to your excellent KZbin vids. Thank you so much!

[@AncientPottery]

Great, glad my videos could help you out.

[@sxt4447]

Andy, what would you suggest for beginners who may want to use wild clay but we’re not in ideal spots to find it? I live in the city of Chicago and there are some great parks, beaches and forest preserves by my home but it’s already snowing here. Any tips?

[@AncientPottery]

No idea. Once the weather warms up in the spring you can probably travel outside the city and maybe find some clay. But for now maybe just buy some clay, have your seen this video about different commercial clays kzbin.info/www/bejne/pGLdqIenodpnfas

[@sxt4447]

@@AncientPottery I haven’t checked it out yet but I will now that you suggested it! Thanks Andy :)

[@HowToSurviveLife.]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

[@AncientPottery]

My pleasure!

[@chinodiaz1500]

Andy here in my zone almost all clay have some caliche content. How can i remove it by levigation? Is the same process that you make for separate clay from sand, silt etc, or you have to do something special? Please excuse my English. Greetings from Argentina!!

[@AncientPottery]

That might work, try it and see. You can always just keep your firing temperature low, below 820 C to avoid problems with the calcium.

[@breONKONK]

Thank you for the video. Do you think i would have any luck doing this in Florida? It’s always wet here

[@AncientPottery]

There is wild clay in Florida, I know people who use clay from Florida.

[@jernejjurko]

Do you know where would be a good place for clay up north? It's densely wooded area with chernozem (lot's of humus). Oh and rivers never get dry.

[@TheLindbergbill]

If I lived in AZ I'd love to go wild clay hunting here in ky I'm going clay hunting tomorrow. Your tips will help. 😊

[@AncientPottery]

Glad to be of help. Have fun!

[@mihailvormittag6211]

👍

[@carrotlafancyy1175]

Hey Andy! Im brand new to the pottery world and have been having some trouble extracting clay from the soil near me, I live in New Englnd where there is very little clay anywhere near me, what are your sudgestions to getting quality clay from dirt with low amounts of clay? Any clay I do get ends up really hard to work with, it breaks up really easily no matter how much water you give it, no stretch at all.

[@AncientPottery]

Hmm, that's too bad. Maybe try levigating it to remove all impurities kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6Pcon1rfpiZaLM

[@Gurukittyart]

amazing 🤩

[@theindigenouspothead4542]

You said it best, no matter where you live, ypu just need to know how and what to look for with clay.

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks. I am still waiting for more videos from you.

[@rubymoore1621]

i see you talking about fireing clay that has coliechee in it at a low temp. what is the lowest temp to fire clay and have a soound piece?

[@AncientPottery]

It depends on the clay. But most clays will make a decent ceramic at around 700 C

[@rubymoore1621]

@@AncientPottery Thnk you so much for your videos and quick responces

[@jaivse5085]

I live in Florida know any where I can legally acquire clay in nature?

[@AncientPottery]

I know people in Florida who collect clay. I don't know any of the places myself though.

[@darenmiller2218]

Hey Andy I had a question for ya buddy. I am on the hunt for paints and flux for my clay. Now, the plan I talked to said to use acrylic paint and hodgepodge. Is this true, or is it Walmart nonsense?

[@darenmiller2218]

Also, I did it before firing. Is this a bad thing? Either way I guess I’m gonna find out soon enough.

[@AncientPottery]

No acrylic paint will only work if you apply it after firing. Before firing it will all burn away in the fire

[@darenmiller2218]

@@AncientPottery yup totally confirmed with the distaster in my oven at the moment. 😂

[@Cementcraft-w3o]

I like this one clay

[@serendipit_908]

Can you show us in a video how find green clay and separate from mud for face mask

[@AncientPottery]

I think the process would essentially be the same whether you are using it for a face mask or a pot. kzbin.infonSFb36fDrOM I have a video coming out next week about finding green clay.

[@mattiemathis9549]

This is great!!! I’ve been planning on making some bricks for my outdoor kitchen, but I needed better than “mud” bricks. This channel is super helpful! And on a side note, it was really cool to see an informative, well explained tutorial coming from my little area of Az! Most of the time I’m cursing the native soil (won’t grow anything but mesquite trees and cactus), but being able to make use of the soil to make better bricks is going to be cool! Andy- if you ever want another hand harvesting, let me know!

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks. Have you seen this one? kzbin.info/www/bejne/o6utoHyjicSSrsU

[@mattiemathis9549]

@@AncientPottery yup!!! Y’all are great!! I live in the southwest, so my material availability is different, but I got some clay! Let me tell ya! I have finally found a purpose for my extra dirt. In my area it’s pretty much 80% clay. Really enjoying your channel!! Great job! 👍

[@benwinkel]

Speed limit 65, tell your passenger, tell your wife. While we're out here on the way, might as well look out for some clay.

[@Gurukittyart]

Red car 🚗

[@shabanshaik1088]

Supar clye