Stacey Klopp on thu 10 dec 98
the area i live in was full of marl at one time long ago (hence the town name
"Marlton") . when i was younger i could dig up clay from the lake and stream
beds but now, with the rise of development in the town, i would'nt know where
to start or what to look for. what usually marks a site as a potential clay
vein? can anyone tell me what i'm to look for? a friend of mine digs his own
clay but gets it from kentucky/tennesee, not sure which. when i asked him how
he finds his clay all he could tell me was to look at the sides of roads. he
is a guy of few words so most of his knowledge of digging clay comes from
instinct. can anyone recomend a book or something that could help me find
local clay? anyone else live in the south jersey pine barren region that would
be able to recomend old or new veins? the farmers of long ago used to use marl
as a fertilizer and i believe they exhausted the mines supply, thus closing
them. most of those old mine areas have been developed i think, anyone know if
anystill exisit? id even take some local history on the town of marlton if
anyone has it
thank a heep to y'all, i need all the help i can get
stacey klopp
The Brinks on sun 13 dec 98
Hi Stacey,
I get sedimentary clay from the edge of a riverbed in late summer, when the
river is mostly dried up, and clay has settled out in slightly higher flat
areas. Look for cracked areas; where I go the "flakes" or chunks of clay
are about 8" across. Sedimentary clay will be earthenware--maybe that's
not what you had in mind. Am curious about your other reply about the
swampbottom clay...wonder if that is earthenware. Guess it depends on the
surrounding terrain, what has been washing down.
from Ann in CA, where it will get up to 70 today, and my southfacing
workshop should be toasty. And I'll want to throw instead of work on
Christmas cards!
At 01:34 PM 12/10/98 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>the area i live in was full of marl at one time long ago (hence the town name
>"Marlton") . when i was younger i could dig up clay from the lake and stream
>beds but now, with the rise of development in the town, i would'nt know where
>to start or what to look for. what usually marks a site as a potential clay
>vein? can anyone tell me what i'm to look for? a friend of mine digs his own
>clay but gets it from kentucky/tennesee, not sure which. when i asked him how
>he finds his clay all he could tell me was to look at the sides of roads. he
>is a guy of few words so most of his knowledge of digging clay comes from
>instinct. can anyone recomend a book or something that could help me find
>local clay? anyone else live in the south jersey pine barren region that
would
>be able to recomend old or new veins? the farmers of long ago used to use
marl
>as a fertilizer and i believe they exhausted the mines supply, thus closing
>them. most of those old mine areas have been developed i think, anyone
know if
>anystill exisit? id even take some local history on the town of marlton if
>anyone has it
>
>thank a heep to y'all, i need all the help i can get
>
>
>stacey klopp
>
>
e-mail billann@impulse.net
Joseph Herbert on mon 14 dec 98
Stacey Klopp Writes: <>
Stacey confronts a quandary that many others may face. What local materials
can I use and where are they? Aside from just looking around and keeping an
eye open, there are a few resources that are available.
Every state has or had a Geologic Survey. This organization originally had
the duty of identifying the exploitable natural resources that were available
in the state. These included minable ores, coal deposits, sand and gravel
deposits, and clay deposits suitable for ceramic use. The early publications
of every geologic survey of every state includes a county by county
enumeration of the available resources of the state. As Stacey pointed out,
things change. Deposits are exploited, houses are built, roads are
constructed. On and on. Even so, the record of what was there will guide you
toward what is there.
Sometimes the geologic survey has recently published a relevant work. The
Kansas geologic survey has published a guide to Kansas clays for the hobbyist.
That seems pretty close to the mark. Other surveys may have published similar
things.
One of the good things about geology, things may not change that much. If
there was a shale layer that was good for brick making 150 years ago, it
probably still is and it is probably still there -- at least a little of it.
The economics of scale that drive commercial operations out of business when
the extraction of a resource becomes too expensive does not mean that the
resource is not there, it means that the people who ran that business couldn't
make it pay under whatever the circumstances were. They didn't take all the
rock with them when they stopped. Some is still there.
In addition to the official state publications, there are other geologic
publications that can give you a good insight into what kind of resources are
available. In Texas, I have looked at a series of papers from Baylor
university geologic department that descried the clay content -- kaolin,
bentonite, etc., of various sections of a shale formation in the Arlington,
Texas area. The location of the measured section is precisely given and the
relative content of each layer, foot by foot is recorded. Similar papers, as
graduate thesis, doctoral dissertations, or other research exist in many
universities.
County soil surveys have been performed for every county in the country by the
Department of Agriculture. I know exactly what class of soil underlies my
yard on the basis of the aerial photo in the Dallas County soil survey. If I
like the clay that underlies my property but don't wish to make my backyard a
clay pit, a similar classification shown in someone else's backyard, again
shown on a aerial photo, will allow me to do commando clay raids to harvest
buckets of their subsoil. It is a simple matter to convince the victims that
they have been given a hole (a gain) rather than having had soil taken (a
loss).
In any event, a trip to the library of a university with a geology department
will yield many references about clay deposits.
In the case of New Jersey, the state is a geologic miracle. New Jersey fueled
the Geology Department of Harvard for years with the minerals from the
Franklin area. There are over 150 minerals found only there. The state has a
geologic survey that has a web site:
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/njgs.html
The Pine Barrens must not be a very good place to look for clay. The place is
all sand. The swamps are so loaded with organics that any clay recovered from
there will stink for a long time. I don't know for sure that there are no
clay resources in the Barrens. Further northwest and into Delaware, I know
there are shale layers exposed in the road sides that are worth testing. Look
for different colors, green, gray, white, red, and a rounded weathering
pattern. If a rock ledge sticks out from the side of a hill, what has wash
away from under it? Clay. Look there. Any rounded non angular topography
probably has a clay underlying it. The famous badlands of South Dakota are
formed in thick mudstones. Look for that kind of shape and color in road cuts
and hillsides.
There is a reason why the ceramic supply people make their money supplying us
clay. It is hard to find a good clay and it is hard work to process it when
it is found. You will probably end up lifting all the clay you find and a
certain amount of other rock to waist level several times before you can use
it. You might think if it is worth it to pay $20 per hundred weight to only
have to lift it once or twice.
Joseph Herbert
JJHerb@aol.com
Joseph.Herbert@Worldnet.att.net
Stacey Klopp on mon 14 dec 98
ann, thanks for the reply
im really interested in incorporating some of the clay into a higher firing
clay body or using on the surfaceas a glaze or wash. i realize that most of
the local clay around here will probabally low fire, so i will need to do some
experimenting. most of my work is about the pinelands region (ever hear the
myth of the "jersey devil"?, well that is where i live,basically). what i
meant about the swamp bottom clay is that most of the lakes here have been
made by way of damming up the many small creeks around here.alot of times the
developers just plowed forrest to make a lake where a swamp once was. i
remember as a child diving to the bottom of these lakes to retrieve some of
the clay(most likely marl, which is a low-fire material/clay) and if i
remember correctly it was a dark brown color and had a smooth texture when
wet.if i had only saved some and not thrown it back to the bottom maye id have
been able to save myself the aggravation im now dealing with! most of these
lakes or bogs will be drained for the winter so maybe now is my chance to do
so digging.
thanks again for the help..........stacey in n.j where it just cant seem to
get the hang of winter = snow not rain!!!
The Brinks on tue 15 dec 98
Hi Stacey again--you've got some interesting experiments ahead of you
....I've done a few in the areas you mention. One thing I did that turned
out well was to make up some dry local clay powder , throw a white body
stoneware pot with a good shoulder and sprinkle with a strainer while the
wheel is turning slowly. Covering the pot opening is optional- I didn't.
The bisque firing left an orangey surface, which turned a deep maroon shiny
glaze in the cone 7-8 firing. I also used the clay as a glaze; just added
enough water to make it feel about right, and dipped the hifire bisqued
pot as usual, oh, except I had a normal interior glaze and only dipped the
outside. It turned out to have tiny maroon flakes that adhered to the
pot..I mean severe crawling, but in a crackled pattern. Must do it again;
I'd forgotten about it. Of course your clay may be totally different. I'm
curious to hear . And I've never tried a wash- thanks for the idea.
I'm also enjoying reading the other responses about ways to find clay.
When we go on trips I have sometimes spotted clay at sites and brought a
little home and made a pot to remember the trip. Best one is from
Whitehorse, The Yukon. That's also where I bought two little animal
figures made by an 80 year old man who had been blind since he was 6 or 7,
and made bison, dogs, etc from memory. He had been institutionalized most
of his life until finally someone got him out...when he was young he was
just stored away because he was blind. Well, I've digressed.
Ann Brink in CA, with a fuzzy brain from doing Christmas cards all day...
At 08:59 AM 12/14/98 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>ann, thanks for the reply
>im really interested in incorporating some of the clay into a higher firing
>clay body or using on the surfaceas a glaze or wash. i realize that most of
>the local clay around here will probabally low fire, so i will need to do
some
>experimenting. most of my work is about the pinelands region (ever hear the
>myth of the "jersey devil"?, well that is where i live,basically). what i
>meant about the swamp bottom clay is that most of the lakes here have been
>made by way of damming up the many small creeks around here.alot of times the
>developers just plowed forrest to make a lake where a swamp once was. i
>remember as a child diving to the bottom of these lakes to retrieve some of
>the clay(most likely marl, which is a low-fire material/clay) and if i
>remember correctly it was a dark brown color and had a smooth texture when
>wet.if i had only saved some and not thrown it back to the bottom maye id
have
>been able to save myself the aggravation im now dealing with! most of these
>lakes or bogs will be drained for the winter so maybe now is my chance to do
>so digging.
>
>thanks again for the help..........stacey in n.j where it just cant seem to
>get the hang of winter = snow not rain!!!
>
>
e-mail billann@impulse.net
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