Wild clay newbie looking for recipies

[Daisy_Jane]

Hi, 

Im hoping to get some advice on what to do with the wild clay i recently found on the farm. I have no idea what im doing but i want to pitfire what i make and i want to find a way to make and glaze my work naturally ie single fire, natural vitrification processes, using ash and animal dung etc. 

The stuff doesnt have to be food safe or completely finished. 

The clay is pretty good, fairly plastic, slakes fairly fast. No fizzing. Not all that structural but thats ok. Small particles, dries way too quickly. 

 

Ill be using a lot of pine so the temp will spike early but im sure there are ways around that. Any advice welcome. 

 

Someone suggested mixing 10% cement, straw and my clay to make a chiminea. How does that sound?

[neilestrick]

7 hours ago, Daisy_Jane said:

I have no idea what im doing but i want to pitfire what i make and i want to find a way to make and glaze my work naturally ie single fire, natural vitrification processes, using ash and animal dung etc. 

The big issue here is that pit firing does not get hot enough to melt glazes or vitrify clay, so you're going to have to decide if you want to pit fire or if you want to make vitrified pots. Natural ash glaze from the firing process glaze only occurs at high temps, like 1250C and above, which would require a proper wood burning kiln. However there are primitive versions of those kilns that you could build. You also need to figure out how hot your clay will fire. It may be that it'll melt long before you get to 1250C. Not all clay is the same.

7 hours ago, Daisy_Jane said:

Someone suggested mixing 10% cement, straw and my clay to make a chiminea. How does that sound?

As a finished project or as a kiln for firing pots? It probably wouldn't work much better than a pit in terms of heat production. It could be a great project for your wild clay, though.

Have you worked with clay and/or firing processes before? If this is your first time working with either, I strongly suggest finding some reading material and learn the basics of how clay works- firing temps, kiln types, etc. There's a certain amount of technical knowledge needed to be successful with clay, even with something that seems so simple like a pit firing.