{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"2022 Archive of RENATURED, Marina Zurkow's Research Blog","provider_url":"https:\/\/o-matic.com\/blog-archive-2022","author_name":"Marina","author_url":"https:\/\/o-matic.com\/blog-archive-2022\/blog\/author\/admin\/","title":"AS FOR THE CLAY\u2026","html":"As for the clay, now I am teaching myself how to process it. I'm using the best online explanation I could find\u00a0here.<\/a>\r\n\r\nSo first, yeah, I found some clay. I was simply excited to touch the stuff and\u00a0recognize\u00a0<\/em>it as clay: silky, powdery, and if you wet it and rubbed it between your fingers, you could tell, if you'd ever handled slip in a cushy predetermined amateur clay studio like the one I work in in Brooklyn.\u00a0I'm not good at assessing clay yet; apparently you should roll the clay in question between your palms and if it turns into a worm, it's good whereas if it falls apart or smears into palmy smaze, it's not going to be very usable.\r\n
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Sauvies Island clay sampling (digging)<\/dd><\/dl><\/div>\r\nBack at\u00a0PNCA<\/a>, I'm using the ceramics studio to see if it's usable, fireable, what it can do -- if anything.\r\n
\"clayprocess1\"<\/a><\/dt>
Drying it out, then slaking it by turning it all to consistent mush<\/dd><\/dl><\/div>\r\n
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Straining the mush to get rid of debris (thanks \u00a0to awesome\u00a0Liz Lux<\/a>\u00a0for help building the strainer frame!)<\/dd><\/dl><\/div>\r\nSo that's where I am. More to come as the clay does its thing.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n+++\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nUpdate Aug 14\r\n\r\nI processed all the clay samples from the four sites.\r\n\r\nWillamette\u00a0#2 I left as slip and Willamette\u00a0#3 I had to amend with some Kentucky\u00a0Old Mine #4\u00a0Ball (OM-4) clay, apparently from a mine in Kentucky.\r\nI was told* that clay, in order to have any plasticity, must contain a variety of particle sizes or it will dry up and crack, as mine did when I laid it out on the plaster slab.\r\n\r\nBut as slip, it is surprisingly adherent and is not cracking.\r\n\r\nHere are 4 slab-rolled hand-built stoneware cups, coated with slip from Willamette site #2:\r\n\r\n\"\"<\/a>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nHere are 2 pinch pot containers made from the Willamette\u00a0site#3 \u00a0clay amended with 20% OM-4 Clay. Even with the added clay, it was still quite lifeless so I knew that slab rolling for hand-built cups was not going to end well:\r\n\r\n\"\"<\/a>\r\n\r\nNext step: firing.\r\n\r\nOne bisque fire (no 2nd firing):\r\n\r\n\"\"<\/a>\r\n\r\n\"\"<\/a>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThey are much brighter red than you see here.\r\n\r\n+ + + +\r\n\r\n* More info on clay elasticity:\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/ceramicartsdaily.org\/community\/topic\/3087-clay-elasticity-or-not\/<\/a>\r\n\"For a body to be really workable, you need particles of various sizes. Grog, while rated at a specific mesh size, actually has particles of many sizes.\"\r\nSome suggestions from this forum include adding ball clay, which is fine, urine, beer, and bentonite.","type":"rich"}