How To Wet Process Wild Clay

There are 2 primary ways to process wild clay, wet or dry. I usually prefer dry processing my clay but it doesn't work for all clays, for different reasons, sometimes you need to wet process your clay. This video illustrates in detail how to wet process clay that you have dug from nature.
To learn all about finding, collecting and processing wild clay, check out my online masterclass, Wild Clay 101 - ancientpottery.how/courses/na...
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[@AncientPottery]

If you like wet processing clay, that's great, I happen to think dry processing has many advantages. I spent years wet processing clay so I do have experience with both methods. Yes, it depends on the quality of the clay you dig, on your local weather and humidity and personal preference. If you would like to hear what advantages I think that dry processing has then check out my latest video about dry processing clay here - kzbin.info/www/bejne/q2e1nXuJfJmWj5Y

[@myriamvalentin4]

Hi, I'm planning a project for my kids as part of a homeschooling lesson. We have heavy clay soil in an area of our backyard. My question is: why do you need ground up pottery to mix in? How does the final product suffer without it?

[@AncientPottery]

@@myriamvalentin4 Without temper your clay will likely crack while drying or in firing. Here is a video about temper kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4u9lX-CeLRrf9k

[@ZombieKitKat]

I have a couple suggestions! You probably work the clay with the same moisture content more or less so you could probably take the weight of the clay before adding water and subtract it from the weight of the clay with water to get how much water mass was added. Then you could probably use the dry ratio once you account for that variable. You might also get a roller machine of some kind, much like the heavy industrial ones they use to add colors to silicon but on a smaller scale. Maybe something meant for pastries if there's nothing specifically for clay. That would save you so much manual labor. I like your videos, you put out good information!

[@sum_rye_hash_321]

measuring the temper is still an issue i have no great solution for, but cant you mix the temper in with the slurry before drying it in the pillow case? maybe weight the bucket filled with water before adding the clay, than weigh the bucket with the slurry and subtract the water weight?

[@christopherburgess96]

Try putting the clay in a basin and stomping on it. Using your hands for repetitive work like that is very strenuous.

[@mjremy2605]

Back in India, my ceramist parents used fine Ganges clay for their terracotta studio pieces. It was very malleable, very fine, low firing clay. We used to dry the wet clay on plaster bats before kneading by hand and throwing on the wheel. One thing about clay, is if you let it sit wet in a bucket, some fermentation process happens slowly and it becomes more and more workable/ flexible. Nature takes its course. You might just want to soak it in buckets for a few months ahead of time and have a rotating cycle of Tub Soak, Plaster Bat dry, Knead, Use. Adding a bacteria called 'bacillus subtilus' ferments the clay and makes it more plastic with a stronger bond and smoother to knead. This is probably why clay along pond edges is so soft and slimy. Nicely broken down by the bacteria.

[@KristiContemplates]

Mine's been sitting in the water in a plastic tote for half a year. The water has gone from green to beautifully clear. My cat likes to place her paw in it, and lick the water from it

[@diogenesstudent5585]

What is a plaster bat?

[@mgeller854]

Interesting 🤔

[@theabristlebroom4378]

@@diogenesstudent5585 Potters use plaster specifically formulated for this use (not sure how it's different from regular plaster) and they pour it into a mold or a flat bottomed tub (coated with a mold release agent, like vaseline). Then the plaster is de-molded, and allowed a few days to set up firmly. At that point, the wet clay is placed (or poured) onto the plaster in an even layer a few inches thick. This mass is turned every so often, to allow it to dry relatively evenly. Then you have to knead it as he showed.

[@Th4thWiseman]

Ganges clay is %95 human fecies shit 💩

[@lymanclark5537]

Press your clay down to a cookie shape. Cut it like a pizza into four equal slices. Remove one slice and use it to make a sort of dam around the outside of the slice you removed. Fill that empty slice with your temper. That will give you a 4 to 1 ratio of temper to clay which is suppose to be just right.

[@AncientPottery]

Brilliant, thanks!

[@MarkStadsklev]

if you want 20% use five slices, one removed

[@MarkStadsklev]

@@AncientPottery five slices , one removed = 20%

[@wiredvibe1678]

@@MarkStadsklev 4 + 1 = 5, which is 20% 5 + 1 = 6, not 20%

[@jeffwells641]

@@wiredvibe1678 Is it supposed to be 20% of the total mass? Or 20% of the pure clay mass? Your formula is for total mass, Mark's is for pure clay mass.

[@arkansaspotter7250]

Couple ideas. I actually prefer wet processing because even though it's time consuming I don't find it very labor intensive. The first thing that I think will help you is ditching the pillowcase method and using a plaster bat instead. My clay isn't that liquid when I move it to the plaster, so I have a flat slab of plaster, but I bet you could make a plaster bowl or tray so you could pour the liquid clay in it. This wicks moisture out evenly from the clay, so it drys pretty evenly, and you don't loose any clay through the plaster. Second I wonder if you could weigh the dry clay before beginning processing and estimate the amount of temper needed. Then mix it in after straining out the rocks but but while the clay is still liquid, using the drill mixer. That way wedging is less labor intensive. Hope that helps!

[@AncientPottery]

Yes, I have been thinking long and hard about the plaster bat, that pillowcase is kind of my nemesis. I appreciate the suggestions above. I am going to absorb these things and make another video in a few weeks showing how this process can be improved.

[@olivetree9920]

I am also very curious about using a plaster bowl. There are a couple large water balloons in my closet that I have always thought would make great, very smooth molds for this purpose.

[@drakekoefoed1642]

years ago i had a big plaster block. I just bought the bagged plaster and cast it in lumber. it was over 100# and would rapidly dry a bunch of rubbish from the wheel to recover.

[@Pipsqwak]

I pretty much have to use the wet processing method because my clay comes out of the ground wet and in our humid rainy climate, it takes forever to dry. I dry out the chunks just enough to break up and screen out the roots and rocks, then mix it up into a slurry and sieve it through another finer screen. I let it settle, drain off the water, then pour the clay out until the silt at the bottom (darker color) starts to show, then allow the clay to settle again and pour off the water until it's a gel-like mass at the bottom of the bucket. That's what I pour onto plaster bats and it results in a pure clay that I can then add temper to, and maybe some ball clay if the wild clay is a little short.

[@glennrich2566]

@@drakekoefoed1642 explain this whole temper thing. What is it, why do you do it, what effect does it have, how much do you use? This is the first that I have heard of this.

[@nancyskinner5207]

I use a big piece of plaster of Paris that I molded over a very large stainless steel bowl. The plaster of Paris pulls the water out a lot quicker than draining it through a pillow case and there is no loss of clay.

[@wendye1048]

I remember add a kid watching a video about native American communities in the South West processing clay themselves. They did it while the clay still has the texture of thick mud. In a cotton drop cloth, and mixed in the temper by kneading with their feet (think wine stomping) then allowed it to dry further in the drop cloth. It was a really significant batch of clay, enough to make pottery for the whole community.

[@leslie-lynnesinkey1225]

I got a metal strainer, the oblong kind made to rest on the edges of your sink whilst you hull strawberries, wash potatoes, whatever. The mesh is heavy, but about the same size as window screen, maybe a little larger. I'll pour the clay (dry, if it's friable enough) through that to get out the larger pebbles and so forth. Bigger chunks I can then soak and run through the sieve, too. That sort of saves the first step in the levigation process. Then the process is pretty similar to yours, though the pillowcase is genius. You can probably save a lot of work by doing a few things...one, once you get it out of the pillowcase, put it in a plastic bag or covered bucket overnight. Osmosis and all that other stuff you learned in high school means that the water will migrate from the wetter parts to the drier, so that you aren't trying to work in those crumbles of dry clay. It gives you a nice, evenly moist clay body to wedge. Let the clay do the work, so you don't have to! Also, Andy, you are trying to wedge *way* too much clay at the same time. About the size of a loaf or a loaf and a half of bread is a good size, but if you have let the clay sit to even out the moisture you may even be able to skip that first wedging more than a shove or two to gauge how it is doing. It may seem like more work to break it up, but you aren't having to wrestle with all that weight. Give your arms a break! As far as temper goes---Metric-Man To The Rescue! One milliliter (1 ml) is a measure of volume equal to 1 cubic centimeter. (Many American rulers and kitchen measuring cups have both metric and Imperial--if yours don't, you can pick them up inexpensively anywhere that carries that sort of thing). Whack your clay into something as close to a cube as you can. Measure the length, width, and depth in centimeters, and then calculate the volume just like you would in Imperial. Therefore, a cube 10 x 10 x 10 cm = 1000 cubic centimeters. Because 1 cubic centimeter is equal to 1 ml, 1000 cubic cm=1000 ml. If you want to do a 4:1 ratio of clay to temper as Andy often does divide, the size of your clay block (1000) block by 4 (the ratio of clay you want). Result: 250. Use a metric measuring cup to scoop up 250 ml of temper, and you have your 4:1 ratio of clay to temper. Now for the wedging! Sprinkle some temper on the work surface and roll out your clay (break it into two if you have to to make it more manageable, and just use roughly half the temper on each half). Sprinkle more temper on top and roll it up like a jelly roll. Start at the short end of your roll, and roll it up into a cinnamon bun, and give it a few good wedges. If you split your clay, do the same with the other half. Then tear off softball-ish sized hunks of clay, roll into a ball, and throw them down on your work surface--hard! Throw again--square that thing off into a rough cube. Grab another and keep going. Let physics work for you--the force of the impact helps push the temper through the clay--besides, it's a good way to work off your frustrations! You can also stick a finger in the clay and pour a little temper in the hole, too, before you start lobbing softballs. Mix up your softball cubes so you have some from each lump of clay (cinnamon bun) you've worked to help even out any inconsistencies in the different batches of clay. Then repeat: give it a few quick wedges, sprinkle, roll out, sprinkle, jelly roll, cinnamon bun, a few quick wedges, softballs, cubes. How many times you have to repeat will depend on your clay, the moisture content, the amount of temper, the size of the temper, etc., but it's more efficient than you would think. When it all seems pretty homogenous, then split it into loaf-sized pieces, give them a good wedging, then combine the whole kit-and-kaboodle. This is the only time you'll have to be manhandling a large amount of clay, and by this time you're just evening out minor inconsistencies between the various loaves and making it even, so it shouldn't take too many shoves. A handful will be plenty. Voila! Lovely moist clay with even temper, ready to play with! I like to roll the clay into softball-ish sized balls again and store it in Authentic Ancient American Ziplock Bags. That way the moisture content stays consistent throughout, and one ball is a good size for a smaller pot or for a few coils on a larger pot. If the clay seems a little dry when you are sealing them up, sprinkle a few drops of water in before you seal it. Over a day or so (or longer) the clay will absorb it and even out the moisture levels again. I love your beautiful assistant/supervisor, too, Andy!

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks for this Leslie. But I have to say, I am looking to mix a large volume of clay by doing less work, while your process may be superior, it does not appear to be less labor. I'm trying a different method now, stay tuned for future updates.

[@Gurren813]

You should look into planting bags to dry your clay in. They're designed to hold soil in and let moisture out, and I used one when I processed clay and seemed to keep a majority of it, since the water leaking through was barely brown.

[@hawks9142]

Genius. They make those bags in any size too so just buy for the size you need

[@theoneandonly15]

I prefer the wet method only because I believe the result is much purer clay, while many impurities float to the top, however, I don’t use the pillow case because 1. You lose clay, 2. Uneven drying, 3. Harder to knead the clay with temper, 4. I find it easier and quicker allowing the clay to dry in the sun at the bottom of the bucket simultaneously removing the top portion of water while it being easier to eyeball and mix temper while the clay is sludgy

[@womensarmycorpsveteran2904]

I use old jeans. Cut the legs off and sew them up where I’ve cut them (like a long pillow case). I pour the processed clay in, tie it up and after hanging for a bit, I lay them down on an old pallet and turn once or twice a day. It works really well. Edit: when it’s dripping you don’t see much clay running out at all, so it might be worth a try. Can always pick up old jeans at a thrift store.

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks. I have heard of using old jeans but never tried it. They are definitely tighter weave than pillowcases.

[@MrLachupakabra]

I've liked every video of yours that I have watched, and here's why. Not only do you show us the step by steps, 12:00 but you're also using your experience to speculate why things are behaving the way they are and that gives the viewer ideas for improving the overall process. Like + sub

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks, glad you are enjoying my content.

[@emeliahendricks4395]

Hello sir thank you for sharing this video Even though you're not professional yet on it and you're willing and open to learn and share. Thank you for sharing your knowledge about identifying clay and how to process it I am not a professional and I am just beginning to learn how to process clay from you and a few others. Your content is helping me a lot I have an idea I would like to share with you about how you can improve drawing your play without losing so much by dripping through the pillowcase. Instead of hanging the the pillowcase with the clay to drip-dry, I think you would save more clay if you were to use a thick cotton sheet same quality material like what you recommend for us to use for the pillow case. Place thick cotton sheet inside a carton box with enough holes or ventilator to provide lots of air going through to circulate around the sheet with the clay. Make sure you pour the clay evenly. In layer that is not too thick so it will not take too long to. Duplicate the same with other boxes depending on how much clay you are drying.

[@whateversmurfette]

I'm a hobby metal refiner, and when I want particles in a large quantity of water to settle I use a little bit of dish washing liquid. It forces any floating particles to settle. I've been watching your videos because I have excellent clay deposits in my yard, and I want to start working with it beyond mashing it with my feet on a tarp for making raised garden beds.

[@AncientPottery]

Hmm interesting, worth a try. Some clays just refuse to settle and for those this might be a great tip. Thanks

[@MichaelRpdx]

Would you be elaborate on making raised beds? Please.

[@nom_b]

Phew. I was exhausted just watching all the work you did ;-) . Thanks for all your videos.

[@AncientPottery]

You are welcome, thanks for watching.

[@doriscurrie1813]

I would have never thought of doing that. We used that for grinding sausage on the farm, but I would have never thought of that. Wonderful. Andy thank you so much.

[@AncientPottery]

You're welcome

[@FancyPants43]

Just discovered a nice light redish-orange clay pocket in my backyard and going to try the wet process. It's been a year now and im pretty sure you've probably improved the labours process. As a suggestion, running the clay through mechanical rollers should cut down the labor process significantly. Thanks for the content. 💯💚💯

[@cactusrouge9391]

I'm binging your videos for my own experimentation with wild clay starting in a few days. Since i use commercial clay for my pots (for now!) i have to add the temper the wet way. I found that the faster method to add the temper is simply to break down the big ball of clay into small chunks, i just pinch small amounts off the ball until i've got a hill of chunks then I pour the temper over it with a bit of water. Kneed for a few minutes and thats it! I can do good quantities pretty fast. For my classes I just let the students do the tempering ;) with this method its not a lot of effort and everybody can do it. I do mostly schools so even children can do it. They learn one more step of the process and less work for me, win win!

[@thomashugh7086]

Something I did with the liquid slop after straining that really helped with the workload after. I kept it in the original plastic bucket and allowed it to settle. I kept rope or paper towel over the edge siphoning off the water that separated out until the leftover clay way ready.

[@thomashugh7086]

I was able to mix when it was close to ready to prevent as much separation.

[@JMS-2111]

Just watched the video, and the first thing that came to mind was salt flats. Distribute the watered clay over a wider area and slowly skim the sediment off the bottom to the edges, like it's done when collecting sea salt on the slat flats. Plus the evaporation of the water is significantly increased. Just an idea, thought I'd share. Great video though.

[@AncientPottery]

Sure, good analogy, I did something similar in a later video.

[@tombrown407]

My favoured method for working temper into a plastic mass of clay was to roughly work the clay into many thin pancakes and then pound the temper in; later recombining the pancakes. This was quite effective for quickly adding large amounts of temper when making crucibles for my friend/colleagues proto-metallurgy experiments and demonstrations. We ended up with some vessels that looked like they where more temper than they where clay, and they held up amazingly well in the smelting process. Though one did get a bit glassy.

[@AncientPottery]

Great tip, thanks!

[@BlackDragon_555]

Wet process it as normal but when it comes time to drying I put mine in a large shallow cement mixing pan after draining off the excess water of course. Then let it completely dry to the point where it dries out, break it up into smaller chunks, dry it some more and then put it back in a bucket to be ground up, add your temper then rehydrate it. The whole process takes longer but it utilizes the best of both processes by cutting out the heavy labor. Being in Arizona should make this process much quicker due to the temp and all the sun there.

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks for the tip. The wet and dry process. Check out my video that comes out on Wednesday to see me try drying my clay in this manner.

[@thehappypotter9612]

I slice up the wet clay with a wire, then press the slices into the grog, slap the slices together, then knead

[@AncientPottery]

I see a few comments here with that suggestion, thanks for the great tip.

[@blameese]

This video and its comments are so useful! Thank you!

[@Sporkekw]

My dude getting up without grunting is what I strive for.

[@AncientPottery]

LOL

[@sarahmarie5698]

Thanks to your videos, I have made my own clay twice ❤ Thank you for sharing your knowledge! 😊

[@jelkehuisman]

I'll try this with some fairly oily black/grey sea clay I got recently. Hopefully it will work. Thanks for the information on the process.

[@doriscurrie1813]

I love your idea for processing clay

[@divinelivity1111]

Love it bro. I think you could add the temper to the clay water just before you put it into the pillow case to dry

[@BrentLagerman]

great video by the way! Looking forward to trying this!

[@ryangrentzer7042]

Regarding how much temper to use, you could weigh the initial ground dry clay, and adjust a weight percentage of temper according to roughly how much silt and material discarded per batch. Love your channel, thanks for the content!

[@susannabruun435]

I love how intuitive the whole process is. Before I happens upon your channel I had already processed my first batch of clay . After wet processing it was still too wet and I was out of patience. So thinking I was taking a short cut I split my pile of clay into quarters and added sand off our road till I was happy with the feel. I’m working on my second batch now and I’m so antsy to get working again! I’ll have to add vinegar next time, after a full 24 hours of my watery clay sitting I had less than an inch of water at the top 😅

[@zeegh5867]

Thanks for the time and effort

[@Lou.B]

Dang! That IS a lot of work! Thanks very much for your GREAT instruction!

[@AncientPottery]

You're welcome, glad you enjoyed it.

[@darenmiller2218]

There’s is so much to learn about this stuff. I’ve just been using the wet method so that’s all I know at this point. Some people are talking about adding bacteria and Vaseline etc etc. I’m gonna keep it as simple as possible until spring.

[@stephenhill6143]

LOVE the overalls! Excellent choice.

[@AncientPottery]

Prevents plumbers butt when bending over.

[@EndlessTangents]

Love your videos, Andy. I haven’t looked through all 851 comments, but I’ve read many, and no one yet has mentioned stack and slam wedging. You take your mass of clay and cut it in half with a wire (vertically- top to bottom). Then throw the first half down, followed by the second half directly on top of it. Repeat that cut/throw/throw process several times and the clay will be very well mixed. If you add the temper in between the layers the first few times you throw the second half on the first, it will be mixed in easily. Also this method will save you a lot of work!! Thanks for all of the inspiration!

[@elliottmackay4650]

Hi Andy, I love your channel, great information! I decided to comment on this video because of my experience with plaster and slip casting. I have done slip casting from plaster molds for some 30 odd years. In my opinion, the easiest way to turn "slip" into malleable clay is to pour the slip into a "mold" that has a shape that will be easy to work once it is in clay format. A plaster bowl will not work as well, it should be a large, flat rectangle shape and the plaster thickness on all sides and bottom should be the same thickness. You can easily make a form (size and shape of the volume of clay you wish to process), then build a 4 sided box that is 3 inches wider than the form on all 4 sides, and it should be taller than your form by 3 inches as well. Seal the form to a flat surface (I use clay to seal a wooden form to a sheet of acrylic that is sitting in a table), place the 4 sided box around your form and seal the 4 sides of the box to the acrylic (again, clay sealant for wooden box). Generally I am 50/50 mix plaster and water. Mix then, pour in liquid plaster to the top of your box and let it set. It would be best to not remove the box or form until the next day, but at least wait for it to go though it's heat cycle + 1 hr. Do not use any mold release of any kind (on the form or on the box) as this will inhibit the plaster's ability to wick away the water. Once set, the plaster will not stick very hard to the wooden form or box since the wood is malleable somewhat. I use wood screws to hold the box sides together so it is easy to remove. The form can be trickier to remove but it shouldn't be too hard (again no, none, nada mold release. it will take a long time for this mold to completely 100% dry but it is worth it's weight in gold once that has happened. Sitting out in the sun in your dry climate especially if it is windy, it should go a lot faster than most (maybe a week or 2). Do not use it before it has completely dried from the molding process. If you do, it will dramatically reduce the results. Once you have this, you should be able to pour your slip in where the form was and have usable, homogenously moist clay in a few hours at most. Add dry temper to dry clay at the % you want. It is clay, not rocket fuel. In my opinion the % precision is negligible. Mix with water with a drill, let it settle and drain off the clear water as you showed, strain into bucket then you should be good to go, I have hundreds of molds that I have done this way. Fast and easy clay processing once you get it set up, and if you truly wait for the mold to dry 100% first, drying out the mold after that will go much faster than the original water did, but I'm not completely sure why. LOL best of luck! Thanks for the paint strainer Idea, I Love it!

[@philipptroger4288]

As always good content and top infotament. I Love your channel Andy !

[@AncientPottery]

Much appreciated!

[@jerryeschrader2306]

Thanks for sharing. I watched a couple of your videos and was inspired to go out and bag some wild clay/dirt. Our area here in Nayarit Mexico has a lot of rich clay deposits. I did both dry process and wet. It’s been fun but I see your issue with volume. My idea is a 20 qt Hobart mixer with a dough hook. It essentially does the needing that you’re doing by hand. That’s of course after the clay has cured. Thanks so much again

[@stewartwoerle6351]

G’day Andy, learning a heap from your posts, great informative content, thank you. Don’t have much advice when it comes to wet processing, but may have an idea to help with the grinding. Have you considered motorising your corn grinder? Can easily be achieved using an old windshield wiper motor. Attach a pulley to where your grinder handle fits and another on the motor shaft. Make a bracket to mount the motor an then a belt to join the pulleys. You can run the motor from a car battery or get a 110/12 volt transformer and run off the mains. Rotation direction can be changed by simply swapping the motor wires to the power source. 12v motors have a lot of torque so you can fill the hopper, turn it on and do other stuff until you need to add more dry clay. Speed can be determined by pulley sizes, bigger pulley on the motor and smaller on the grinder shaft equals faster grinding. Hope that’s of some help. Cheers, Stewart

[@RavinderKaur02]

Very nicely n clearly explained!! Thanx!!😊🙏

[@AncientPottery]

Most welcome 😊

[@KO_IslandGirl]

Amazing.. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I’m hooked on your channel, learning about clay.

[@seth424]

I always found that when doing the wet process, when it comes time to begin the drying step to lay out the slurry in a shallow trough I welded from old sheet metal. The more surface area exposed allows it to dry much faster. But that requires a long shallow trough and probably isn't very feasible.

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks, I am making plans for making something like this.

[@shukonnabaruaprapti26]

Why is this video so satisfying to watch?

[@chompers11]

another solid video, also andy's shirt game is always on point

[@AncientPottery]

Ha Ha. Thanks

[@roostermcblurter]

Thanks for that. There's a lot of videos about how to get the clay, but not the tempering part. For me with the tempering I would roll the clay out and layer it like a sandwich and sprinkle the temper on each layer before kneeding, can save a lot of time.

[@AncientPottery]

You are welcome. I see see several of you have suggested that method of adding temper so I will have to try it. Thanks!

[@Gutwrenchinggore]

You can always add dry to your wet and knead that. Kinda half and half the labor some. The corn grinder is interesting, I've never seen that before. Used to working at scale with commercial clays, so haven't ground my own. I generally, when I process wild clay, use a commercial dry mix to make it workable and such.

[@AncientPottery]

That's a good idea, thanks for the tip. The corn grinder works great for most clays, you should try it.

[@alanhelton]

I’ve tried both for two years now, and I find wet processing works well for me. I go through so much clay and find I’m able to achieve a consistent product while not slacking on productivity. I have one caveat however and that is my clay production is a byproduct of my sand washing (making concrete but don’t want to truck sand in from off site) and as such I’m making 20-50 lbs a day when washing sand for my house construction.

[@kaya_y.]

I process clay by foot and hand and one way that helps me to add the temper is to squeeze down the clay body into a sheet and add whatever tempers and additives. You got me into this stuff thank you so much.

[@AncientPottery]

Good tip, thanks. I am glad to be able to provide inspiration, thanks!

[@williamvonarx78]

I like your videos I think they're great!. Having dry mixed some things, I mean, I have made a few mud pies in my time I like to think the meat grinder/sausage filling techniques might prove fruitful to such a trooper as you. Thanks again!

[@awfultruth6216]

Thank you for sharing. You taught me a couple tricks and I want to share my thoughts with you. Mixing the clay with water, using a strainer, let the refined clay to settle, remove the excess water and poor it into a pillow is a fairly easy (Labor free), acceptably short process. The drying can take a long time and the mixing with temper can be problematic. Here is what I would do: Instead of placing the clay into the pillow and let it dry naturally, I would place them into a solar distiller. That will favors evaporation and would speed up the whole process esponentially with no labor nor, at 0 cost (No power required) and with the possibility to reuse the water (If you distill it, you can also collect it!). You don't put the the pillow in the distiller, you use a set of frames to form clay ingots that can fit your grinder. Once those ingots will be dried, you'll be able to grid them easily with minimal effort. Same thing for mixing them up.

[@eiyumats6218]

Hi Andy, My suggestion would be simply to measure the weight of clay and tamper on a scale to make it in the ratio of 10:2, or whatever the ratio you wish.

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks for the tip!

[@raypoirier5705]

Is it possible to marry the two methods and avoid the labor at the end of the wet process? Could you add the temper to the clay after it's been strained, but before it's been through the draining/drying process?

[@AncientPottery]

I think if I add the temper too soon it will all sink to the bottom of the clay and will need to be kneaded through thoroughly in the end, so it won't actually save me any labor.

[@evanlabrant5448]

@@AncientPottery I wet processed some clay from my back yard a few months back and noticed that once it settled out to a certain point, grit stopped settling completely. It was sort of a very thick latex paint consistency and the grit (already present in the clay) was very small but noticeable by touch.

[@alexforget]

Use a plaster wedging table to remove water form the clay:  done in minutes Use the cutting and slaming wedging to incorporate your temper: save a lot of work and strain on your wrists

[@elizabetholiviaclark]

In the coming year or so, I plan to have a foundation dug for an outbuilding. Inasmuch as my soil has a high clay content (acidic red clay, if what I read about southeastern US soil is accurate), I was wanting to use that soil to make clay. I'm just learning, so until I saw this video, I didn't even realize there was a dry process. Thank you for the informative video!

[@AncientPottery]

Yes, the dry process only works if your clay is relatively pure though. I hope your dirt makes good clay.

[@elizabetholiviaclark]

@@AncientPottery Thank you. I want to try both methods now for the experience, although I want to use some of the clay to make bricks for decorative purposes. It seems to me that the wet method would naturally be suited to that project. But if I'm going to learn, I want to learn both ways if possible. Anyway, you have a fine channel. Thank you for sharing your mastery of this subject with others.

[@troylaarman4424]

I've been playing around with making clay with sandy clay soil since it's winter and it's all I have access to. When the pillow case drip is done but still very wet I switch to a cut up cotton t-shirt bringing the clay into a tighter ball. When it's nearly dry it's less work to kneed it to a even consistency.

[@AncientPottery]

Sounds like you have a good system figured out. Thanks

[@KiaAzad]

I did some wet processing and found out spreading the clay thin and letting it dry makes it easy to process as dry. It doesn't need grinding since thin dry clay breaks as soon as it touches water, and you can add the temper before adding water.

[@peterthinks]

If you had a two foot bar or chunk of 2X4 bolted to a hinge on your bench you could keep throwing the block under the bar and using the leverage of the bar to kneed it. Save yourself a lot of work.

[@MorphEagle]

Andy, I have found that letting the clay settle and pouring off the clear water more than once helps reduce that clay loss through the pillowcase. The drips I get tend to be pretty clear (might also have to do with my pillowcase). It does take a little longer of course.

[@AncientPottery]

Great tip, thanks

[@Tomartyr]

You might want to lean in to the clay leaking through the pillowcase and get an even looser filter and catch the drippings in a shallow pan to be dried out in the sun. Also the quickest shape for drying/moisturising something is to form it into a toilet-roll or doughnut shape, the through-hole is key.

[@ViniSocramSaint]

Hi there! First time in the channel and already hooked. So interesting to see clay extracted from the powder of unassuming soil chunks

[@AncientPottery]

Welcome aboard!

[@danirizary6926]

As a kid making adobe we stomped it in a shallow depression. An adult would occasionally check it and add more sand or clay. Later we used a cement mixer.

[@AncientPottery]

That's cool

[@andrewtroy5898]

Idea for how to figure how much temper to add: Get a chunk of clay to a workable consistency. Cut it into four equal parts(weigh them if you want to be precise). Bag up three of them and let the other one dry out completely. Grind it up and see what volume you have. Compare that volume to one of the three wet chunks. You'll see the difference in volume that accounts for the water loss. You'll be able to better judge how much temper to add. You're estimates are likely pretty close to a true 25 percent, given how long you've been doing this. I'm not suggesting doing this for every batch of clay but if you did this a few times, maybe for different clays, you would be able to 'eyeball' 25 percent with more confidence.

[@UnknownPerson-rf5rp]

Vary good job sir ,it is very important helpful video.

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you.

[@MrMcCoyD4]

Love the paisley :)

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks

[@garethzero]

Just to let you know, here in the UK we use large tin pans around 2inc deep 2mx1m in greenhouses we leave it there for around 2-3days then we tip and then use cement mixers to need the clay.

[@Morkvonork]

For the settling down part you could use a milk seperator centrifuge. The pillow case could probably exchanged for one of these apple presses with clothbags and the tamper part could be nn electric pasta machine that you then turn the rollout strip 90° and make it feed back into itself. I think this could have a lot of throughput.

[@AncientPottery]

Great tips, I will need to hit the swap meet next weekend and look for those items.

[@Morkvonork]

@sourand jaded There is a dry process for making clay that seems easier. You can use a grain grinder to do it and its less steps. kzbin.info/www/bejne/q2e1nXuJfJmWj5Y

[@arichardofalltrades6770]

Thanks for the informative content! Two things I did differently that I think made it easier is I separated my clay into 4 equal (ish) piles. Seemed to make estimating temper a little easier. The second is I tempered with the clay a lot wetter. Still a lot of work though. My first batch, so I'm no pro....

[@MawoDuffer]

It does take a while. I did it once but I still think it would be fun to do again. Paint strainer bags are going to make it a ton easier to strain.

[@AncientPottery]

Yes, those paint strainer bags work wonders.

[@neilgoodman2885]

Thank you, Maestro Respectfully, NHG

[@OUTFXD]

Thanks for the video. My buddies property is filled with red clay. We are trying to level it out. REALLY hard to work this stuff! I got to thinking there has to be a way to use it. So I am trying your wet process to see if I can get clean clay out of it. I will be referring to your video alot!

[@AncientPottery]

That's awesome. I hope it turns out to be good clay for pottery, if so you will maybe not hate it so much. I love clay but living on top of it would be hard.

[@ladyw6773]

I know you've pretty much 'put to bed' levigating clay, but after processing a couple of batches I learned a couple of things. For temper, the clay from my yard is relatively sandy, so I let the sand and grit settle and pour off the suspended clay into another bucket. I'll do this a max of three times, leaving behind enough sand that i don't really have to add any additional temper. When getting to the drying out process, I started to forego the pillowcase and instead would pour off water several times. I'd let it sit for a while, pour off, stir, let settle again, pour off, etc. I'd do this until I had a thicker consistency. Then I would make a modified version of Tony Soares' drying trough. Essentially, I make a 'frame' with fire wood on my cement porch, lay my pillowcase in that, pour the thickened suspension on the case, cover with the extra material and wait. I might flip it a few times, even shifting the setup to a dry spot, and waiting a little longer. This works for smaller batches of clay - think 1/2 a five gallon bucket or less. I hope this makes sense. While taking longer to have ready clay, I've found wet process works far better for the clay I have access to (dry resulted in a very crumbly clay that acted extremely short. Though it was the exact same clay I wet process). I hope this all makes sense, for you or anyone else interested 😊

[@shazzorama]

What a beautiful dog!❤❤❤

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks

[@daniellemarie5355]

I prefer the water process, that was the only way I found that efficiently separates the dirt and clay. My fly came out perfect! Took 4 days almost but worked!

[@sazieboy64]

Great vidio. I,d like to say you make this process look easy. I put the clay onto another piece of cloth when it's gloopy and add temper buy folding or kneading it into the clay in the cloth. This helps dry it a bit. Then as a slab in the cloth I can flip it like a big burger..

[@AncientPottery]

Great tip! Thanks

[@shoge550]

I'm really lucky, because I live near the river and there's clay everywhere but I didn't know how to process it, this video really helped my thanks

[@AncientPottery]

Glad to help.

[@1959Berre]

To easily mix the temper in the wet process, first flatten the lumb to a giant pancake. You may use a dough roller. Sprinkle the temper evenly over the pancake. Then roll the pancake or fold it a couple of times. Mixing the clay consistently will be much easier now.

[@MR-fx5td]

Hello ! Thanks for the video, really interested in all your videos ! I got an idea if you want to try it out, to add the temper in the wet process. Make sure you let your mix clay+water to rest in a bucket that is translucid or semi transparent, and calculate quickly the surface of the bottom of the bucket : S = Pi*r². Then when it is rested, you mesure the heigth of the clay rested at the botom. You can now estimate the volume of wet clay : V = S*h . Put everything back in the same units to simplify the calculus. Then you know you have to add, maybe not 25% because it is not a volume of dry clay, maybe more like 15%, of that volume in Temper. And you put the temper directly in the wet clay in the bucket just after you remove the excess water. It will be very easy to mix. And then the pillow case step can begin. And maybe do not dry it to much to make it easier to make it homogeneous afterward. That's just something i would try, but you got the experience, tell me if that sounds doable :) ! Maybe with this method, with some try and error, you can make some marks and mesure on your bucket that will tell : this height of clay needs 3 bowls of temper, something like a kitchen mesuring glass, but big and for water+clay :) !

[@Pipsqwak]

Try cutting that big block of clay into manageable slices, sprinkle each one with temper, and wedge it in. Smaller pieces are easier on the wrists and hands. Also, maybe don't let the clay dry out to be quite as stiff before working the temper in. I use plaster bats; it works quickly to draw out water and you don't lose any clay. Just flip the clay mass so it dries evenly and work in the temper while it's still somewhat stickier than you would normally work with. I have small hands so I like to wedge smaller lumps of clay individually or use a slice, stack, and slam method to mix.

[@AncientPottery]

Agreed, smaller lumps are easier to deal with. It's still more work though than just dry mixing that temper in.

[@jamal69jackson77]

One idea I have if you're saying you're losing clay material through the pillow case is that you place the pillow case over a stiff strainer board of sorts and then place that strainer over a plastic box container so that any escaping clay ends up inside that tub and you end up getting both the clay inside the pillow case and the clay which might escape and end up inside the tub.

[@eagleHatchling]

At our studio we do wet into an open bag suspended by a frame over a tray. We keep everything wet because of the dust. Any time things get dusty, everyone masks up

[@larrypostma2866]

Where I used to live we had clay rich too soils but no source of the parent clay nearby. Using a wet method I could process massive amounts of too soil. Fast mixing pulls the clay into suspension allowing it to be poured off the just. If you wanted to add temper after it could easily be mixed in to the desired amounts. I wish KZbin had been a thing back then. But what an enjoyable experience the experimenting was.

[@tonysoaresnativeclays1434]

Yes definitely add your temper to the liquid clay like I do before the pillow case , the clay won’t go through your pillow case as much either. 😀👍🏼

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks Tony. I am definitely going to be thinking about how to refine my process based on yours. I’ve even got a cement mixer ready to go.

[@Neuralatrophy]

Higher thread count might help with retaining the smaller particulates. You CAN technically dry process it, you just have to lay it out in thinner sheets to dry and then grind it up after the fact. Skip the kneading process entirely but add time, or save time by turning wet processing into a preprocessing step you do in HUGE batches to prep a large quantity of dry stuff to grind and mix on demand.

[@carlosenriquez2092]

1st things 1st I don't know anything about clay but a friend of mine borrows my cement mixer to agitate the wet clay for hours sometimes. Also I had to make her a proofing cart with ten trays so she can air dry what she calls a sludge and stirs it every hour by hand until it gets to cream cheese consistency that's when she ads her temper while it's stil quite soft

[@jalspaugh3]

Super helpful video, by far the best I could find on the subject. I also had separating issues and needed to add Epsom salt to the water. After I did that, it separated within the hour. Why is temper necessary?

[@AncientPottery]

All clay needs temper. It helps clay to dry more evenly and protects against thermal shock.

[@amyh.2020]

Just processed my first batch of found clay. What an adventure!!! Fully enjoyed it. ⭐️Here’s a tip on the drying phase….. I used a shallow 2’x2’ plastic tub -lined the bottom with scrap sheet rock -later out an old bed sheet over that Then poured the clay slurry on to the sheet. -folded sheet back over slurry The sheet rock pulled the water out sooooo fast! (I did take the paper off the sheet rock. What your left with is a flat piece of plaster.) Note-the slurry was not poured directly on the plaster, the bed sheet was used in-between.)

[@amyh.2020]

Wish I could add photos of this

[@rogerdickerson6390]

12:55 what about running your clay through a slab roller, sprinkling the temper over the slab, then rolling it up like a jelly roll? You could wedge it from there, with the temper already somewhat distributed throughout. Or would you add too much air bubbles doing it this way?

[@AncientPottery]

Might work. I am not afraid of air bubbles.

[@skullheadwater9839]

As someone who has never process clay my first thought is after you strain it to put it in a pan and put the pan out in the sun and let that dry and then as it starts getting dry occasionally kneed. That would eliminate the inconsistent areas of dry and wet clay that you get from the pillowcase method but I don't know if it would really work I'm just speculating

[@lunabelle1318]

for a larger amount of clay you might try mixing in your tempered clay with your feet by stepping dancing on it over a tarp the same way people mix cob. Check out a video on cob building and you will see how it's done

[@phylismaddox4880]

My suggestion is to take the wet process all the way back to dry. After straining pour the whole bucket into a concrete mixing tray sitting in the sun. Once dry enough to grind try a rough grind with a rock and add the temper then. Honestly, I've never understood the whole pouring off the clear water and putting it in a pillow case part - the sun will do a much more efficient job separating the water from the clay and mixing trays are cheap. A light weight sheet over the tray would keep it clean while allowing evaporation - I'll let you know if it works when I can try it. Alternatively, I wonder if it could be resaturated after you can estimate the amount of temper and use a bread hook on a stand mixer to incorporate. Still going to take longer since it would have to be really wet for a mixer.. Anyway, those are my armchair quarterback suggestions.

[@AncientPottery]

Well if I could grind it easily I wouldn't even bother with slaking and straining, I would just grind it up from the start. Which is probably what I will end up doing anyway.

[@michaelstansell1001]

@@AncientPottery I am curious if it would grind differently after being (wet) strained to pure clay and then fully dried?

[@lauramaeputnam4803]

Creative caring hands

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks

[@bje2920]

I use the blinder for my dry clay it works great

[@AncientPottery]

I've heard of this, but I think it might be slow for the volumes of clay I mix up.

[@bigt3708]

Have you considered cutting the clay into several (10 or so) small sleeves on a wire, grogging the clay masses and then wedging each smaller mass. Combine, wedge, cut combine etc etc?

[@carljensen5730]

Thank you for this video. My property has a lot of clay, but I need to use water to separate clay from rocks and the little bit of floaties.

[@AncientPottery]

You're welcome

[@PilcrowDesigns]

I want to start doing this to try out the clay in my backyard. Curious though. On the corn grinder. How come you don't hook your drill to it and use that, rather than cranking? Also, after you process the clay and get it to the drying process. Why not just add 2 cups of temper to the clay while it's still wet, mix it up, then put it in the pillow case to dry out?

[@AncientPottery]

My drill would not have the power to turn that crank, although it could be rigged up to an electric motor with a belt. I think if I add the temper too early, all the temper particles will settle to the bottom and it will still need to be fully kneaded through so there would be no effort saved.

[@roboticarm3692]

I did this a while ago, and instead of a pillow case I used an old t shirt which i folded up quite a lot. my buckets were leaking and it was quite inefficient, but maybe using multiple pillowcases on top of each other could save more clay.

[@chrisrusso4904]

Do you have to add temper before storing the clay? Your videos are the best. Thank you.

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks, no, you can add temper whenever. I add it before I store it because I want it ready to use,

[@peterwood8421]

The primary purpose of temper, whether it be ground-up pottery shards, sand, or clamshells, is to reduce shrinkage. First you have to establish how much your untempered native clay shrinks from the workable plastic state to the bone dry state. If a ten-inch clay bar shrinks to nine inches, it is one-tenth shorter, or has ten per cent shrinkage, which is usually acceptable. If it shrinks to eight inches, it has shrunk two-tenths (1/5, or 20 per cent), which is too much (too prone to cracking as it dries) so you should add temper. The other purposes of temper are to add stiffness to a clay which slumps easily, and to "open" the clay particles allowing moisture and steam to cook out more easily in the fire. Tempers always reduce the dry strength of pottery, whereas the microscopic clay particles are what knit together all the other minerals you find in native clays. If you are outdoor-firing with wood and/or brush, you may need more temper than with an electric kiln, because an "open" clay can better withstand expansion stresses caused when one side of the pot is closer to the flames/coals and gets much hotter than another side.

[@AncientPottery]

One more important purpose of temper. Open up the clay body to allow more even drying and to allow water vapor to more easily escape. Thanks for this.

[@peterwood8421]

@Sonja Christofferson The word "short" does not apply here - that word is used to describe clay that is too inflexible - even when it is well-moistened, it cracks when bent. Clay that shrinks 20% is described simply as "has too much shrinkage," which is most often due to an excess of very fine clay particles. Fine-particle clays absorb more water and swell up more (shrinking more when dry) than clay that consists of larger particles. There are several ways of correcting too much shrinkage, but the most common is adding tempers like grog (ground up pre-fired clay) or sand. Because clays differ so much, there is no standard per cent of addition, so try 10% temper and test. Be sure to thoroughly mix the temper into wet or dry clay so it is evenly dispersed, either by wedging or by pounding with a mallet or other implement (I sometimes use a rolling pin). Moisten the mixture to what you consider a workable state and test for shrinkage. Repeat with smaller additions of temper as necessary.

[@peterwood8421]

@Potter I would advise against pumice. It is cheap and widely available as a gardening additive, but none of the ceramic suppliers I use offer it, and two pottery books with extensive materials lists don't mention it. Two main reasons: first, it comes from so many sources that there is wide variation in chemical composition; second, it is a glassy volcanic product that is full of tiny gas bubbles, and potters have enough issues with gasses cooking out of clay and glaze materials.

[@AncientPottery]

@@peterwood8421 Several primitive potters I know use pumice without issue. The fact that it is not listed in your books means nothing.

[@nurturewithartnature619]

Hi Andy love your videos and channel! I have a question pls, if your dry grinding what about impurities and foreign material in the wild clay? Such as rocks and grass?

[@AncientPottery]

The clay needs to be relatively pure in order to dry process, say about 70% pure clay. If so then those impurities just get ground up along with the clay and become temper.

[@dirtbagbuilder9568]

great video... I love it when people in the south west say "i will just put it out in the sun for an hour to dry".... Doesnt work quite so well in the south east..

[@tammymcdonald3455]

Hello, I just found your video and I’m very interested in collecting clay. I have many areas of clay in the creek in my yard. I watched you collect and mix dry clay with temper… you used old clay pieces that you had done before and broken and ground but I don’t have that particular ingredient so what do I use? I’ve found pottery shards in my yard but not enough for use. I love your videos and your art. Thank you for sharing your talent.