Klyf Brown on tue 27 may 03
Joe
I have found stoneware all over NM, but most is in small vanes
(veins?) The top and bottom of the vane are usually contaminated
with sand or some non clay sediment. When I used to dig my own
stuff I went and got the geologic maps etc that show deposits. There
were no mineable sites listed for stoneware clays. That doesn't mean
clay is not present, it just means there is not enough for a mining
operation. The sonewares I found were very short (young, large
particles, not plastic).
The adobe clay so present here in southern NM are super bitchin.
Orange to dark brown fired. Take an ash glaze quite well. Very
plastic, really too plastic. They need to be cut with sand or grog for
anything larger than 4 inches. Adobe is everywhere down here. At my
house it is six feet thick. At my dad's place three miles south they
never found the bottom, and he drilled 300 ft for one well. Most
people that mine it do so to build houses not pots.
I know of a mountain of bentonite about 40 miles up the road. Buff
colour, can't use it by itself.
Klyf Brown in New Mexico usa
>Do you think there is any way to assemble a local stoneware clay
body in New
>Mexico for cone 10 reduction using strictly local materials within,
say, Four
>Corners area?
>
>Since most of the clay is like the kind that's dug in NM reminiscent
of
>pueblo earthenware grade whites and reds being only an ultra low
fire clay
>found in riverbeds or found and milled from rocky layers??
>
>Isn't anyone making an all NM Cone 10 or all 4 Corners stoneware
possible?
>How far does someone have to go to accomplish this?
>
Klyf Brown in New Mexico usa
Joe Coniglio on tue 27 may 03
Do you think there is any way to assemble a local stoneware clay body in New
Mexico for cone 10 reduction using strictly local materials within, say, Four
Corners area?
Since most of the clay is like the kind that's dug in NM reminiscent of
pueblo earthenware grade whites and reds being only an ultra low fire clay
found in riverbeds or found and milled from rocky layers??
Isn't anyone making an all NM Cone 10 or all 4 Corners stoneware possible?
How far does someone have to go to accomplish this?
All easily solved by purchasing outside clay neatly pugged from a supplier I
realize.
Joseph V. Coniglio
(frequent visitor to NM)
Russel Fouts on thu 29 may 03
Klyf
>> I have found stoneware all over NM, but most is in small vanes (veins?) The top and bottom of the vane are usually contaminated with sand or some non clay sediment. When I used to dig my own stuff I went and got the geologic maps etc that show deposits. There were no mineable sites listed for stoneware clays. That doesn't mean clay is not present, it just means there is not enough for a mining operation. The sonewares I found were very short (young, large particles, not plastic). The adobe clay so present here in southern NM are super bitchin.
Orange to dark brown fired. Take an ash glaze quite well. Very plastic,
really too plastic. They need to be cut with sand or grog for
anything larger than 4 inches. Adobe is everywhere down here. At my
house it is six feet thick. At my dad's place three miles south they
never found the bottom, and he drilled 300 ft for one well. Most people
that mine it do so to build houses not pots. I know of a mountain of
bentonite about 40 miles up the road. Buff colour, can't use it by
itself. <<
No but you have all the ingredients to make good clay; a several
different clays with different characteristics, sand, bentonite, etc.
Start doing some test blends.
You could start with the adobe clay and your non-plastic stoneware in a
line blend. Then open it up, if you have to with the sand. The
non-plastic stoneware could be made more plastic with the some of the
bentonite.
Sounds like you have a great situation.
Someone commented the other day about how the ancient potters got those
wonderful glazes without being scientists. They did it by trial and
error, blending, watching, learning. They weren't looking for celedons
or temokus or even salt glaze, they invented them with what they found
in their localities. The original shino is a type of feldspar with no
additions, just a ground up rock. And isn't the white Oribe glaze just
Shino fired in a newer type of kiln that burned hotter? (or is it the
otherway around)
I'd like to add that they didn't go into it blind. There has been an
accumulation of knowledge starting with the first potters. A new potter,
armed with the knowledge and skill gained under his master would settle
in an area where he found a reasonable selection of clays (either by
prospecting or by recommendation) and then start blending to come up
with something that worked.
And we're back to learning to make the best work with what we have at
hand.
Russel
--
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