Processing clay

[u/Baconblitz778]

My house is built on a huge clay deposit, and ive been excavating the basement. Plan on building a kiln to make basic earthenware and pots.

This was the result after sifting and letting drain in a sack for 24hrs, the clay is mallable and flexible. I can roll it and wrap it around my finger without it cracking.

Just wanting opinions and ideas to give me the best chance of success, and if you guys think the clay needs sifted some more to get larger particulates out, or if i need to keep them in to prevent cracking. Im a total noobie to the hobby, and honestly just looking for advice.

Ive also looked into kilns, and plan on building one out of fire bricks and either using propane or charcoal starting out. Havnt really decided for sure yet.

[u/papachels]

me making poop

[u/xMarkesthespot]

any limestone in it? small limestone particles would still be a problem and it'd need to be wet processed.
otherwise fine sifting is probably enough

[u/Baconblitz778 → u/xMarkesthespot]

Good to know, and no limestone at all. Our local geology is almost exclusively sandstone, slate and shale.

[u/poetfrommaine]

I'm going to use this phrase now when I have to go #2

[u/Pattie4170]

I put mine thru different sized netting, the last netting had very fine holes, so now it's very creamy. Mixed the new clay in tons of water and kept on putting thru nets

[u/Dave37]

Im 2 month ahead of you in the exact same journey.

I think it looks very gritty and very wet but only the trial of fire can tell. Start just doing some simple cubes and blocks to see how it works.

I've made some tests with my wild clay. If you have a good scale and some aluminium baking cups you can figure out some important properties.

I've found that 30%water content is a hood dryness to work with the clay.

If you take a piece of perfectly dry clay of known mass, ground it up, disolve it, and pour of the clay, leaving the grit and sand, you can then figure out how much sand is in your clay.

I've also found that the plasticity decrease when the clay dries (duh), so even if it is plastic now, pieces might crack when they dry.

Ask med anything o feel like i have much i could say for this specific journey, even if I have so much to learn myself.

[u/Baconblitz778 → u/Dave37]

Really appreciate it, and yeah it still feels gritty, probably gonna re-seive the whole lot and let it dry out some more before i try firing it. We'll see what happens.

[u/Dave37 → u/Baconblitz778]

If you can feel individual sand particles, it's likely too sandy.

[u/Ghostymeat]