I have quite a bit of nice clay on the river banks in my area and would like to use it to make some basic pots.I have tried the clay just straight from the ground to see what it would be like and have come to the conclusion it has to many impurities in it.How would I go about improving the clay? I was thinking dry the clay and sift it, but how would a sift be made in the field with only what is around me.My Ideas are a sift of woven plant fibres or some sort of water filtration using grasses.Does anyone have any suggestions that could help? The sift would have to be quite fine.
Primitive pottery
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I don't know about the impurities, but I have read that you have to add to the clay something like sand or hay to keep it from cracking. I'm going from memory so don't quote me.
I am not into the pottery business, isn't portable enough for me. Without having tried it myself I have picked up a thing or two though.
To my knowledge the clay doesn't have to be so pure. In fact, to make pottery watertight it has to be mixed with some tempering. Either crushed old pottery or well burned shells.
Also, when firing. The fully dried pot is put upside down in the fire and the fire is built around it. Gently at first and steadily increasing the intensity.
To my knowledge the clay doesn't have to be so pure. In fact, to make pottery watertight it has to be mixed with some tempering. Either crushed old pottery or well burned shells.
Also, when firing. The fully dried pot is put upside down in the fire and the fire is built around it. Gently at first and steadily increasing the intensity.
Eric_Methven
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
You don't sift it, you soak it. Take a bucket or container of some sort and put a load of clay in it straight from the ground. Add loads of water, take off your shoes and squidge the clay until it becomes a soggy wet runny mass. Leave it alone to settle and the impurities will settle to the bottom. The clay particles will also settle somewhere in the middle and water will be on the top. After a day or so, ladle the water out until you get to a thicker clay soup. Scoop the soup out until you get to sediment. Dump the sediment. It has all the impurities in it.
Take a large piece of cotton or linen sheeting (an old bed sheet will do) and pile the soup in the middle. Fold the sides in and start squeezing by rotating the ends in opposite directions. This will force excess water out while leaving pure clay inside. Once the clay is firm enough to hold it's own shape (it'll still be wet though), you can work it by hand to push more water out. Keep going until you end up with pottery quality clay. Put it in a plastic bag until needed. If it dries out into a hard lump, add water to reconstitute it.
To make primitive pots, take some of your clay, mix a little crushed eggshell or chopped straw in with the clay, even a little silver sand and make your pot.
Dry the pot slowly in the sun or by the stove but don't let it dry too quickly or it will crack. If it does crack, stick it in a box with all the other failures and reconstitute at a later date.
When the pot is good and dry, dig a trench about five feet long by two feet wide and about six inches deep. Light a fire at each end. Place your pot(s) in the centre and allow the fire to heat them up. When they are good and hot (too hot to touch by hand), move the fire inward bit by bit, keeping it fed all the time until the pots are covered by burning wood.
Build a pyramid of wood over the fire so you end up with a decent bonfire, but not extending the edge of the trench. Allow the pyramid to collapse in on itself. The heat generated in the middle, where the pots are should be enough to fire the pots. Keep the fire blazing for a few hours then alow it to go out by itself and don't touch until the next morning.
Carefully remove the ashes and you should have fired pots. The colours can be anything from red with black bits or grey with black bits depending on the type of clay you use. The black firing comes from the fact that the firing is uneven in this type of kiln fire so results can be unexpected.
When the pots are cool enough to handle, dunk them in a bucket of water and scrub them with a toothbrush to remove all traces of ash. If the pots soften and fall apart, they were not sufficiently fired. If the hold up, they are good to use to cook in/drink from.
If you make a decent size pot you can boil water, make stews, fry chips in it over the campfire. It doesn't have to be glazed.
You may find you have some pots that have broken in the fire (when wood collapsed on them). Keep these till next time and use them to cover your new pots as it will protect them.
Hope this helps, have fun.
Eric
Take a large piece of cotton or linen sheeting (an old bed sheet will do) and pile the soup in the middle. Fold the sides in and start squeezing by rotating the ends in opposite directions. This will force excess water out while leaving pure clay inside. Once the clay is firm enough to hold it's own shape (it'll still be wet though), you can work it by hand to push more water out. Keep going until you end up with pottery quality clay. Put it in a plastic bag until needed. If it dries out into a hard lump, add water to reconstitute it.
To make primitive pots, take some of your clay, mix a little crushed eggshell or chopped straw in with the clay, even a little silver sand and make your pot.
Dry the pot slowly in the sun or by the stove but don't let it dry too quickly or it will crack. If it does crack, stick it in a box with all the other failures and reconstitute at a later date.
When the pot is good and dry, dig a trench about five feet long by two feet wide and about six inches deep. Light a fire at each end. Place your pot(s) in the centre and allow the fire to heat them up. When they are good and hot (too hot to touch by hand), move the fire inward bit by bit, keeping it fed all the time until the pots are covered by burning wood.
Build a pyramid of wood over the fire so you end up with a decent bonfire, but not extending the edge of the trench. Allow the pyramid to collapse in on itself. The heat generated in the middle, where the pots are should be enough to fire the pots. Keep the fire blazing for a few hours then alow it to go out by itself and don't touch until the next morning.
Carefully remove the ashes and you should have fired pots. The colours can be anything from red with black bits or grey with black bits depending on the type of clay you use. The black firing comes from the fact that the firing is uneven in this type of kiln fire so results can be unexpected.
When the pots are cool enough to handle, dunk them in a bucket of water and scrub them with a toothbrush to remove all traces of ash. If the pots soften and fall apart, they were not sufficiently fired. If the hold up, they are good to use to cook in/drink from.
If you make a decent size pot you can boil water, make stews, fry chips in it over the campfire. It doesn't have to be glazed.
You may find you have some pots that have broken in the fire (when wood collapsed on them). Keep these till next time and use them to cover your new pots as it will protect them.
Hope this helps, have fun.
Eric
Thankyou for your help Eric it is most appreciated.
I was hoping to make pottery using only what nature could provide me with.
How could I eliminate the bucket? Forgive me If I am being awkward that is not my intention.
I was hoping to make pottery using only what nature could provide me with.
How could I eliminate the bucket? Forgive me If I am being awkward that is not my intention.
Eric_Methven
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
To go completely primitive, and to eliminate the need for hunting to find a deer skin, I'd suggest making a container such as like a small dugout canoe.
Fell a tree. Wrap raw clay round the tree from about two feet up going up to about four feet. Light a fire at the base of the tree and burn the tree down. The clay will protect the trunk. If you have an axe, so much the better.
When your tree is on the ground, cut (or burn) a five to six foot section off from the thick end. The tree needs to be a good two feet thick at the butt.
Split the log in two with fire hardened wooden wedges. You'll end up with two half logs split lengthways. With the split side facing upwards, cover the edges with raw clay about three or four inches in from the edge all the way round. Light a fire in the middle of each log. When the fire has burned down, use an adze or a flint blade to scrape away the charred wood. Light another fire and do the same again.
As the fire burns deeper into the log, apply clay to the sides to stop the fire from burning the sides through. Burn and scrape until the hole is deep enough for your purpose. If you use this technique on a whole trunk you can make yourself a dugout canoe so you can take your pots to the local village to barter for other stuff.
You use the burned out logs exactly as you would use any normal container to get the clay sediment to settle. They will need scraping out every couple of uses but it's a small price to pay to get a natural product that you can make from what's lying around you.
If you just want to practice the principle, you can dig a hole. Line it with sand so it's smoothe. Split open a black bin liner and line the hole. Put some stones around the edge to hold it in place and prepare your clay in there. You can pretend it's a deer skin. The result will be exactly the same and won't affect the clay making experiment.
Eric
Fell a tree. Wrap raw clay round the tree from about two feet up going up to about four feet. Light a fire at the base of the tree and burn the tree down. The clay will protect the trunk. If you have an axe, so much the better.
When your tree is on the ground, cut (or burn) a five to six foot section off from the thick end. The tree needs to be a good two feet thick at the butt.
Split the log in two with fire hardened wooden wedges. You'll end up with two half logs split lengthways. With the split side facing upwards, cover the edges with raw clay about three or four inches in from the edge all the way round. Light a fire in the middle of each log. When the fire has burned down, use an adze or a flint blade to scrape away the charred wood. Light another fire and do the same again.
As the fire burns deeper into the log, apply clay to the sides to stop the fire from burning the sides through. Burn and scrape until the hole is deep enough for your purpose. If you use this technique on a whole trunk you can make yourself a dugout canoe so you can take your pots to the local village to barter for other stuff.
You use the burned out logs exactly as you would use any normal container to get the clay sediment to settle. They will need scraping out every couple of uses but it's a small price to pay to get a natural product that you can make from what's lying around you.
If you just want to practice the principle, you can dig a hole. Line it with sand so it's smoothe. Split open a black bin liner and line the hole. Put some stones around the edge to hold it in place and prepare your clay in there. You can pretend it's a deer skin. The result will be exactly the same and won't affect the clay making experiment.
Eric
bambodoggy
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Eric_Methven said:
A slightly different take on this is to start the fire towards one end of the canoe/log (still with the clay on the rims and sides exactly as Eric discribes) and then rather than let it go out and have to light another one, just drag it to the other end to burn that out while you scrape the charred wood from where the fire started. Then drag it back and just keep working each end in turn like this so that the fire is always at the other end to the one you are scraping and never needs re-lighting.
Hope that helps,
Bam.
Wow, What an amazing stream of knowledge Eric, as always :You_Rock_ .
But if you don't need a dugout canoe to boot you could try this, It's just of the top of my head but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work.
A much simpler way to purify the clay would be to make a finely woven basket, find a patch of soft ground by the river (close enough that the ground is waterlogged). Dig a hole the size of the basket put the basket in the hole, wait for it to fill with water, then you have a water filled container to do the clay in that wont dry out no matter how long you leave it.
I have been meaning to try out some pottery for ages, I did a evening class a while ago and it was grate fun. Another thing to put on the to do list .
But if you don't need a dugout canoe to boot you could try this, It's just of the top of my head but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work.
A much simpler way to purify the clay would be to make a finely woven basket, find a patch of soft ground by the river (close enough that the ground is waterlogged). Dig a hole the size of the basket put the basket in the hole, wait for it to fill with water, then you have a water filled container to do the clay in that wont dry out no matter how long you leave it.
I have been meaning to try out some pottery for ages, I did a evening class a while ago and it was grate fun. Another thing to put on the to do list
.
