Testing and Firing Wild Clay

[@calvinpruett9429]

That end pot blows me away; you have come a long way, Sir!

[@clementramon8589]

Makes a lot of sense. Love your videos. Beautiful pot like the designs. Pottery is a dying art in our tribe. We are encouraged to bring it back. All the masters have passed on. But there are few left.

[@airstreamwanderings3683]

There are some young native potters like Bobby Silas who are working to perpetuate the craft. You have probably checked out Andy Ward's channel and he and others are working hard to train others. Do you give classes?

[@clementramon8589]

@@airstreamwanderings3683 I'm brand spanking new! Just starting. Yes I do watch Andy Ward he's great also. Seen Bobby's work. Beautiful...

[@xenophile620]

I've been trying to process local clay and found that even after sifting, there is probably too much fine sand in mine. So I have started the process of levigating to try to purify the clay further.

[@airstreamwanderings3683]

Yup, levigating works the best in those situations. Good luck. Some run wet and watery clay through 5 gallon paint strainers but I think levigation is easier.

[@virginiajorgensen8614]

Turned out very nice.

[@airstreamwanderings3683]

Thank you, much appreciated.

[@dominicrose4608]

Cool video !

[@airstreamwanderings3683]

Thanks for watching.

[@genehickman1146]

Good video and a good test. Next time you do a test tile try starting with a 10 cm (100mm)piece, which makes the math much easier to get the shrinkage. Get the shrinkage after it dries, then fire it and measure shrinkage again. I think that the shrinkage after firing is the most important.

[@airstreamwanderings3683]

Good idea, thanks.

[@theindigenouspothead4542]

Great content, I came over from Andy Wards channel, doing some work of my own lately!! Maybe Ill see you at he SW Kiln Conference in Oct!!! Cheers!

[@airstreamwanderings3683]

Thanks for watching. I will definitely check out your channel. Good luck with making videos. Yes I'm hoping to make it to the Kiln Conference. It is a great event. (Sorry for the slow reply, I just saw the comments.)

[@norcore8504]

Loud intro and quiet guy, you know it's going to be informative since he's specialized in pottery and not faking videos and stuff if that makes sense

[@airstreamwanderings3683]

Thanks for the watching and the comment. I'm not sure its the best intro music but I personally like it.

[@andrewgrantwood]

How did you determine how long and at what temperature to fire and what did you paint with?

[@airstreamwanderings3683]

This is low fire wild clay with about 20% temper. I fire it with wood which takes no more than 1/2 hour (usually 15 minutes). There are some other videos that show firing. Basically you make a primary fire to warm up and dry your pottery. Then you build a teepee fire over the top of your pottery. I generally don't add any wood once the fire is started so it burns fast and hot. Be sure to use dry wood that is 1 - 2" in diameter. Andy Ward has some good videos too. The paint is manganese dioxide with about 30% of fine clay to get it to stick. I got mine at an old abandoned mine but you can buy it on Amazon. You can also mix in copper carbonate. This is what was originally used by native people although there are some other painting methods. Good luck.

[@mihailvormittag6211]

👍

[@airstreamwanderings3683]

Thank you.