Wow a lot of comments, alas, no one reads them all even though there might be useful tips contained therein. So, if you are lucky enough to read this, then good. I have found that using hot water for the first wetting part of the process and an electric drill with a paint mixing impeller makes for short work. Then strain, I use a course kitchen sieve first to remove twigs pebbles and root filaments. Then I use a cheap $10 soup blender to get an ultra fine slurry; then filter again with a large paint straining bag. These are big enough to fit over a bucket (Get these from the hardware store very cheaply). They are fine nylon mesh like a silk stocking. Take note that the stuff you filter out here may be just tiny clay lumps that needed more soup blender mixing, so knead them a bit to check before discarding; now I just leave my slurry in a bucket for a few days to settle out. The clay and water stratifies and the water can be poured off. Then just leave it for a week or two and it firms up enough wedge up and use. To calculate the firing temperature, make a 'pyrometric cone' from your clay and fire it. Checking to see what temperature your cone slumps at. Be sure also measure shrinkage so you can make size calculations later. I make a 100mm disk one the pottery wheel. Measure it when dry for your dry shrinkage and again once fired to get your percentage. If it's 84mm it's 16% shrinkage (100-84=16). Good luck everyone.
ive dug clay out of a waterfall before, filled an icing bucket i got from the bakery section at the grocery store. mixed with water, like sugested in the video, but used an old spaghetti strainer to catch the big chunks of rock and used a re-usable coffee filter to catch the smaller stuff. granted it took a lot longer, but the clay came out a lot cleaner that way. i even bought a few boxes of plaster of paris to make a drying vat.
Best tutorial I come across today on finding clay. Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to share your life experience. I am always grateful and thankful for knowledge. :-)
I've actually been wanting to throw clay to make into a mold that I can use to make homemade bricks. Homemade bricks means building materials. And possibilities!
My grandparents built the entire house I grew up in, using blocks they made themselves. What happened to the good days when people did things themselves rather than just working for money to later spend?
Have you been able to do this? I have been looking into this recently as I have a permanent campground I set up. I have found red clay so far by the creek. Haven’t gone looking much more.
I live in a town called Swadlincote (UK) we have some of the best alumina clay in the world it is a beautiful deep orange/red colour unfortunately most of the clay works are now closed, pipes made in Swadlincote were exported all over the world and were known as the strongest, most of the sewage pipes in London say “made in Swadlincote” Funnily enough I saw a documentary on a sewage diver in Mexico ( very brave man ) and as he swam amongst the sewage I noticed a pipe that said “Made is Swadlincote” I would love for the industry to be revived as a specialty clay, I dug some up in my garden I didn’t have to dig far into the top soil to find the fiery coloured clay, it looks such good quality you could almost get away with using it without processing.
My town here in missouri in the United States, used to make fire bricks and construction bricks with clay dug locally. The clay has a yellow to pale orange color
Excellent. You reminded me my visit to River Ravi in Lahore. What a beautiful pinkish clay we used to work with back in late 80’s. Thank you once again for a simple process and appreciating nature.
Several years ago I dug some clay from a waterfall. Serveral small buckets in fact. I mixed it into a thin slurry and ran it through an old spaghetti strainer. Then through one of those re useable coffee filter baskets. From there it went into plaster of paris vats. Was a long process, but it got a lot of junk you might not expect to be in your clay.
My family just bought a property in the mountains. We started pushing down trees and digging on the property with an excavator and found huuuuge greyish colored clay spots. I dug them out and have been having fun with it
In Sydney, Aus it should be much easier to harvest clay as the topsoil is very minimal the rest is pure orange clay, I'd like to try this with our clay here sometime.
Thanks for posting! It's incredibly helpful . However, how does one determine the maturation temperature of the clay? Also, how does one adjust the clay body to mature at the desired firing temperature?
yes, we should all thank the planet earth for all the things we took and we all should jus take a moment to look and appreciate what we have took from the earth. we should practice remembrance. well done bro!!
Interesting. I'm a grave digger. The hole I dug today had tons of clay in it. I took a bunch of it and put it in a bucket so I could look up how to process it. Just for a bit of fun lol.
ok so there's a stream near my house that is about 7 feet in diameter and reaches 2 1/2 feet at most there are large pockets of clay under water and I can see them clearly I spent about an hour with my fingers digging at these pockets an got a ball of clay about 3 inches in diameter (a lot more than you would think) I put it next to an embankment that i made out of rocks and it is sitting in shallow water (no edges exposed) and I covered it with a big tree leaf to ensure that it wouldn't dry out, Is this a good way to store it temporarily (4 days-ish)
Hello Nicolas, thanks for sharing the info. I want to know, can we also make the clay out of our normal garden soil..? And if yes, what's the process..pls tell.
This might sound like a silly question to send the view but to me it's not. Is there a difference between salt and freshwater clay? And if so do I use the same video or do I look for a different one?
Yes, there is a difference. Sea clay often has more grease, like fat, and shrinks waaay more than sweet water clay. That's personal experience. I dug clay out of a few lakes, gardens, rivers and seas. Sea had gray, slimy, fat and very plastic clay, smooth and easy to manipulate. When it was drying it shrunk more and faster than orange brick like clay from lakes or woods.
Thank you so much for the info! I love sculpting, but my pocket book doesn’t. Lol I know numerous places to get my own clay, but I wasn’t sure about cleaning it.
I have a natural spring in my backyard behind trees and a spring creek has formed over the centuries and everywhere in a 50 ft vicinity there is all clay about 4 ft down
This kind of clay has to be fired at a temperature most kitchen ovens cannot reach, so it is not recommended and could potentially be dangerous if attempted.
hey there great video! sooo i was wondering... how does the cleanness of the clay effect the heat resistance of the finished product, lets sayy if i wanna make a furnace? i see people use clay directly from the dig up and it often seems to crack after applying the heat.
It must be dry, without air pockets, and should be heated slow. Some fire easy, and some need temper added. Expect much breakage until you have an idea of your material.
I grew up next to a river. I noticed often the ground on the edges of the river smells terribly of rotting whatever. Is this where you dig for clay, or beneath it, in the river more?
Please extend a bit your tutorial. The burning step is missing. The Clay that I found has the same color as your. But, when burning it in the kitchen oven, pieces explodes !! Other zones have red ground and clay. Can you explain the difference?
Like they both said try and squeeze them air pockets outs that’s a reason the explode and make sure it’s bone dry also kitchen ovens aren’t hot enough you need a kiln or you can use a fire pit or furnace
I started to find clay everywhere here at the beach I don't know why but I guess the once Sandy Beach is now just a clay beach there is weird rock formations like big rocks and pebbles but it's just clay not even a rock or pebble it's so strange all the shells clumped up and make a weird rock clay thing
Me and a couple of my cousins had an idea to dig, process, and then sell clay. Most, if not all, clay around where we live is earthenware clay, we have plenty of clay sources around our house, is doing this a good/realistic idea? And if so how much should we sell it? Thanks in advance!!
I have a couple of questions for you, could you make more videos for this subject? Also, I live in apartment complex and am low on funds, frankly, I don't have a kiln and cannot make a fire pit, do you have any suggestions? I love how you said to thank the earth for the clay. That is always a good practice no matter what you take. :)
I used my kitchen oven! Works just fine! I had very poor quality clay due to me not properly getting the jist of things, so I added newspaper pulp (with a table spoon of glue and flour and salt) Bake small items at 200 for 4 hours. Or larger items at 225 for longer. Turning items over on a cookie sheet, covered with flour. Also, you can use an outdoor gas grill, depending on what winter means in your area for outdoors stuff.
Mix a slurry and strain it. Let it sit and skim the top every 8 hours for one day. Scoop out the water. Plunge a tennis ball contain or some other clear tube longitudinally into the mixture to get a stratified example of what you must clean from the top. What is settle at the bottom will be much better quality.
Take as much as you want.... you know my dads got a huge loader don't you??? Fortunately I believe I have both white/grey clay and black clay (lots of that) on my own property. Having said that the white/grey clay is so dense that wheat won't grow there. Only some thin grass.
totally agree, there was no point in recording you reading poorly, you could have simply did a voice over to your extraction process and actually fucking DO what you were saying you were doing. Even thanking the clay and remembering...whatever it is you were remembering.
Some people have disorders that don't allow them to be as perfect as you all seem to be. A lot of people have fears of speaking in public. And alot have learning disabilities.
is this a class project? if u have been doing this for awhile, no reason why this isn't all in that mother earth brain lol. nice video , maybe you are just a bit nervous
It’s really both white because depending on how dirty it is and moisture will change the color a bit but they both come out the same when fired most of the time
Did you take the clay from a public (ie. national, state, city) park? Taking out soil is the same as taking out stones or plant material and is likely illegal. This video was very useful and helpful, but could you find a less questionable source for your clay, please? It is impossible to "leave no trace" when you are literaly taking a chunk of the land, and "thanking the Earth" doesn't change the laws or conservation ethics. I recommend finding an agreeable land owner who will allow you to take what you need from private property.
Wow a lot of comments, alas, no one reads them all even though there might be useful tips contained therein. So, if you are lucky enough to read this, then good. I have found that using hot water for the first wetting part of the process and an electric drill with a paint mixing impeller makes for short work. Then strain, I use a course kitchen sieve first to remove twigs pebbles and root filaments. Then I use a cheap $10 soup blender to get an ultra fine slurry; then filter again with a large paint straining bag. These are big enough to fit over a bucket (Get these from the hardware store very cheaply). They are fine nylon mesh like a silk stocking. Take note that the stuff you filter out here may be just tiny clay lumps that needed more soup blender mixing, so knead them a bit to check before discarding; now I just leave my slurry in a bucket for a few days to settle out. The clay and water stratifies and the water can be poured off. Then just leave it for a week or two and it firms up enough wedge up and use. To calculate the firing temperature, make a 'pyrometric cone' from your clay and fire it. Checking to see what temperature your cone slumps at. Be sure also measure shrinkage so you can make size calculations later. I make a 100mm disk one the pottery wheel. Measure it when dry for your dry shrinkage and again once fired to get your percentage. If it's 84mm it's 16% shrinkage (100-84=16). Good luck everyone.
Wow, thank you! I dug, and I found gold.
thanks for the added information.
@@Wonderland_Homestead I've been looking through all discarded debris and no luck there yet! Glad you did though! *sweet* :)
I needed that info. TY! 🌲
You are awesome……. I learned a lot from video, but wow I think I may have a PHD now thank you both so much… I’m just learning .
It is better to store the clay as a sphere because a sphere has the least amount of area per volume, thus it will be less likely to dry out.
do you think he knew that? did you see his clay sculpting? i think this was a special needs class.
Spheres don't stack well. I prefer a dodecahedron (compromise I know).
Or cover them?
True but it’s gonna end up flattening itself from weight
@Apillbox fuck you?
Best and most correctly explained video on the subject on youtube. I like how it has a late nineties early 2000s feel.
ive dug clay out of a waterfall before, filled an icing bucket i got from the bakery section at the grocery store. mixed with water, like sugested in the video, but used an old spaghetti strainer to catch the big chunks of rock and used a re-usable coffee filter to catch the smaller stuff. granted it took a lot longer, but the clay came out a lot cleaner that way. i even bought a few boxes of plaster of paris to make a drying vat.
Best tutorial I come across today on finding clay. Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to share your life experience. I am always grateful and thankful for knowledge. :-)
I've actually been wanting to throw clay to make into a mold that I can use to make homemade bricks. Homemade bricks means building materials. And possibilities!
My grandparents built the entire house I grew up in, using blocks they made themselves. What happened to the good days when people did things themselves rather than just working for money to later spend?
You may give the shape of brick and fire / back in kiln and use for construction work.
Have you been able to do this? I have been looking into this recently as I have a permanent campground I set up. I have found red clay so far by the creek. Haven’t gone looking much more.
Ding ding ding! You just gave me like 10 great ideas!!
I live in a town called Swadlincote (UK) we have some of the best alumina clay in the world it is a beautiful deep orange/red colour unfortunately most of the clay works are now closed, pipes made in Swadlincote were exported all over the world and were known as the strongest, most of the sewage pipes in London say “made in Swadlincote”
Funnily enough I saw a documentary on a sewage diver in Mexico ( very brave man ) and as he swam amongst the sewage I noticed a pipe that said “Made is Swadlincote”
I would love for the industry to be revived as a specialty clay, I dug some up in my garden I didn’t have to dig far into the top soil to find the fiery coloured clay, it looks such good quality you could almost get away with using it without processing.
My town here in missouri in the United States, used to make fire bricks and construction bricks with clay dug locally. The clay has a yellow to pale orange color
Excellent.
You reminded me my visit to River Ravi in Lahore. What a beautiful pinkish clay we used to work with back in late 80’s.
Thank you once again for a simple process and appreciating nature.
I appreciate your reverence to the clay👌
Several years ago I dug some clay from a waterfall. Serveral small buckets in fact. I mixed it into a thin slurry and ran it through an old spaghetti strainer. Then through one of those re useable coffee filter baskets. From there it went into plaster of paris vats. Was a long process, but it got a lot of junk you might not expect to be in your clay.
Thanks for the info, I have been looking into some primitive survival skills and clay use was huge.
Amazing video bravo 👏 I've been looking for a comprehensive straight forward video for this for ages thanks 😊
My family just bought a property in the mountains. We started pushing down trees and digging on the property with an excavator and found huuuuge greyish colored clay spots. I dug them out and have been having fun with it
In Sydney, Aus it should be much easier to harvest clay as the topsoil is very minimal the rest is pure orange clay, I'd like to try this with our clay here sometime.
Thanks so much for the video! I'm going to be making an earthen oven so I may need to be doing this. I thank God for you and the clay.
Step 1: Watch this video.
Step 2: Realize you have exam/work tomorrow.
Step 3: Go to sleep.
Thanks for posting! It's incredibly helpful . However, how does one determine the maturation temperature of the clay? Also, how does one adjust the clay body to mature at the desired firing temperature?
Look through comments someone talks about that and how to figure it out
I live by old brickworks plenty of clay and fire brick making a saw dust kiln. Good info Thanks.
yes, we should all thank the planet earth for all the things we took and we all should jus take a moment to look and appreciate what we have took from the earth. we should practice remembrance. well done bro!!
Lmao
@Student Benjamin Hughes cant thank something that doesent exist
why thank the planet, it can't think? thank God.
@@Rocksaplenty still doesent exist
Lmao the existence of GOD is not up for debate LAYMAN. Its like deny or asking if you believe or have faith that 1+1=2
Interesting. I'm a grave digger. The hole I dug today had tons of clay in it. I took a bunch of it and put it in a bucket so I could look up how to process it. Just for a bit of fun lol.
Ummm... i wouldnt reccomend clay from funerals...
@@carloneill8798Yes but the souls of the dead give it a nice texture
ok so there's a stream near my house that is about 7 feet in diameter and reaches 2 1/2 feet at most
there are large pockets of clay under water and I can see them clearly
I spent about an hour with my fingers digging at these pockets an got a ball of clay about 3 inches in diameter (a lot more than you would think)
I put it next to an embankment that i made out of rocks and it is sitting in shallow water (no edges exposed) and I covered it with a big tree leaf to ensure that it wouldn't dry out, Is this a good way to store it temporarily (4 days-ish)
It can be reused when wet but I guess as long as you have enough trapped moisture in it
There is no single river in my country. Do you think I can find clay to work with next to a valley ??
You all people are rough and mean. Thanks for sharing. I learned a lot of.
Hello Nicolas, thanks for sharing the info. I want to know, can we also make the clay out of our normal garden soil..? And if yes, what's the process..pls tell.
This might sound like a silly question to send the view but to me it's not. Is there a difference between salt and freshwater clay? And if so do I use the same video or do I look for a different one?
I'm certain that saltwater clay behaves almost identically to most other clays. Hope it helps.
Yes, there is a difference. Sea clay often has more grease, like fat, and shrinks waaay more than sweet water clay. That's personal experience. I dug clay out of a few lakes, gardens, rivers and seas. Sea had gray, slimy, fat and very plastic clay, smooth and easy to manipulate. When it was drying it shrunk more and faster than orange brick like clay from lakes or woods.
Thank you so much for the info! I love sculpting, but my pocket book doesn’t. Lol I know numerous places to get my own clay, but I wasn’t sure about cleaning it.
Thank you so much for taking the time to make a video to share your knowledge.
Would this clay be suitable for air dry or is a pit/kiln required?
My understanding of this is that it needs to be baked or fired.
can we also use it for bricks making
Cool video
I have a natural spring in my backyard behind trees and a spring creek has formed over the centuries and everywhere in a 50 ft vicinity there is all clay about 4 ft down
rather than firing in a kiln can you bake this clay in the oven or it that not recommended?
This kind of clay has to be fired at a temperature most kitchen ovens cannot reach, so it is not recommended and could potentially be dangerous if attempted.
Finally someone showing how its done.
A few more questions: can you make masks and abstract art from this clay, and how do you add color?
Paint
Could you fire this in a regular oven? If so, for how long and at what temperature?
Elizabeth House no no, doesnt get hot enough. Building a fire will give better results
Ryan Griepsma Yes building a fire is better. However, fire presents the challenge of cooling the clay slowly enough that it doesn't fracture.
Nope not hot enough you can use a fire pit or furnace but companies use kilns which is an oven on steroids
How do you protect or treat clay for mould?
This was very informative, and I’m so glad you mentioned thanking the earth that was lovely.
hey there great video! sooo i was wondering... how does the cleanness of the clay effect the heat resistance of the finished product, lets sayy if i wanna make a furnace? i see people use clay directly from the dig up and it often seems to crack after applying the heat.
It must be dry, without air pockets, and should be heated slow. Some fire easy, and some need temper added. Expect much breakage until you have an idea of your material.
like pots for potted plants?
I'm just downriver in Augusta doing the same thing!
thanks man I just finish refineing some clay
I grew up next to a river. I noticed often the ground on the edges of the river smells terribly of rotting whatever. Is this where you dig for clay, or beneath it, in the river more?
Wilson Solt lmao dig about three inches down about a half foot from the water then refine it with the bucket thing and shirt
Probably because of decaying organisms like plants fungi bacteria all that
Please extend a bit your tutorial. The burning step is missing. The Clay that I found has the same color as your. But, when burning it in the kitchen oven, pieces explodes !!
Other zones have red ground and clay. Can you explain the difference?
My friend, you either had air pockets, or too much moisture. The video explains how to dig and process, not dry and fire.
Kitchen oven doesn't get hot enough for one. Second, you had clay that wasn't fully dried and/or bubbles.
Like they both said try and squeeze them air pockets outs that’s a reason the explode and make sure it’s bone dry also kitchen ovens aren’t hot enough you need a kiln or you can use a fire pit or furnace
Also depends what type of rock it’s coming from you might have white clay if your area has lots of limestone
Thanks Nick!
What heat does found clay do best at in the kiln?
Thank you so much for sharing the knowledge!I was finnaly able to make some clay :)
You did great, well done.
Can we make ganesha also or not
I started to find clay everywhere here at the beach I don't know why but I guess the once Sandy Beach is now just a clay beach there is weird rock formations like big rocks and pebbles but it's just clay not even a rock or pebble it's so strange all the shells clumped up and make a weird rock clay thing
Me and a couple of my cousins had an idea to dig, process, and then sell clay. Most, if not all, clay around where we live is earthenware clay, we have plenty of clay sources around our house, is doing this a good/realistic idea? And if so how much should we sell it? Thanks in advance!!
HI, can i just find and use the caly from my back garden?
Clay is clay so yes is yes
Can i make clay from black cotton soil?
Can I use red clay to make a crucible or bricks??
Probably, not sure
The Prophecies ok
All clay is the same color means nothing tbh but sometimes clay can have different texture like it can be sandy or really soft
I really liked this video and I'm trying it for myself
And can i use it for casting items?
use "green sand"
U can
I have a couple of questions for you, could you make more videos for this subject? Also, I live in apartment complex and am low on funds, frankly, I don't have a kiln and cannot make a fire pit, do you have any suggestions? I love how you said to thank the earth for the clay. That is always a good practice no matter what you take. :)
Anne Owenput the clay outside exposed to the sun to make it dry
I used my kitchen oven! Works just fine! I had very poor quality clay due to me not properly getting the jist of things, so I added newspaper pulp (with a table spoon of glue and flour and salt) Bake small items at 200 for 4 hours. Or larger items at 225 for longer. Turning items over on a cookie sheet, covered with flour. Also, you can use an outdoor gas grill, depending on what winter means in your area for outdoors stuff.
Can this type of clay be used in a face mask?
I’m really interested in extracting fulvic acid from clay, anyone with advice I really appreciate it
can we used this clay in professional sculpture
Yes
What if my clay has half dirt half clay?
is there a way to filter out the dirt?
Mix a slurry and strain it. Let it sit and skim the top every 8 hours for one day. Scoop out the water. Plunge a tennis ball contain or some other clear tube longitudinally into the mixture to get a stratified example of what you must clean from the top. What is settle at the bottom will be much better quality.
th-cam.com/video/aryqJ5I3f2Q/w-d-xo.html
Dirt is much harder to break down so your best hope is not scrubbing too hard or cleaning as you will break up the dirt
Nice 👍 im gonna try this soon
Great job, I will go to a stream by our house and hopefully find clay. Thanks
can u make it in guyana
Thank you. This was very informative.
Is the clay edible?
I always wear boots when I am shoveling so i don't have to count my toes when I get home!
😂
Take as much as you want.... you know my dads got a huge loader don't you??? Fortunately I believe I have both white/grey clay and black clay (lots of that) on my own property. Having said that the white/grey clay is so dense that wheat won't grow there. Only some thin grass.
Thank you. You did great!
i found lovely clay after a nieghbor drilled a well beautiful clay ..has a little sand in some but some is very fine silt...its grey
Thank you for the video. I hope you pay no attention to the immature comments by the trolls
Dena Oberski yes he will!FEAR ME. 🤓
I'm subscribed nice man
Thanks for the explanation :)
Ned Schneebly
can you find clay in our backyards
Yes, just dig around 9 inches under the topsoil. Also there won't be as much clay in your backyard as there would be next to streams
My clay starts at 3-4 inches
Love the vid man. Dont realy care if you read as long as what you say is valuable content. cheers!
is this air dry clay
Yes
My clay is like cornstarch and water?
I'd like to see some of your art
Thx
Thanks
I found clay when I dug in the sand at the creek behind my house I found a big piece
nice lookin clay
"Earthenwares" 👌🏾 time to make a teapot!
thanks u are the best your cool
*you're
amen for thanks a clean practices i live that
Thank you :)
you really need to work on your flow when you read. I focused on that more than anything. it was so distracting
or just don't read
coz you are not listening on the content. There are always people who got deluded on what they see then actually what they want to know about.
totally agree, there was no point in recording you reading poorly, you could have simply did a voice over to your extraction process and actually fucking DO what you were saying you were doing. Even thanking the clay and remembering...whatever it is you were remembering.
Good lord yes
Some people have disorders that don't allow them to be as perfect as you all seem to be. A lot of people have fears of speaking in public. And alot have learning disabilities.
can we find clay in our backyard
laith toma yea won't be as pure tho u will need to refine more
Depends where you live honestly I don’t have any in mine but I know other city’s regions that do
Please make it more obvious that you're reading a script.... ;)
Thanks for the info.
Lol!!
Are you being sarcastic
Now I really want to go to a river and get free clay and use it!
is this a class project? if u have been doing this for awhile, no reason why this isn't all in that mother earth brain lol. nice video , maybe you are just a bit nervous
thankyou.x
1:52 thank your local habitat with nutrients! Compost your foodscraps and give them back 🙂
the earth cant to it it self.
i cant do it my self.
we all in this together
Can you also find it where people walk?
Wym?
@@theoneandonly15 idk im retarded
Wow!
I love clay
It's like watching someone read a school project
i think it was
Your clay is gray but my clay is stuck at a light tan.
It’s really both white because depending on how dirty it is and moisture will change the color a bit but they both come out the same when fired most of the time
The clay I got is already so wet I think I can just let it sit to dry out a little... It's really wet, lol.
Did you take the clay from a public (ie. national, state, city) park? Taking out soil is the same as taking out stones or plant material and is likely illegal. This video was very useful and helpful, but could you find a less questionable source for your clay, please? It is impossible to "leave no trace" when you are literaly taking a chunk of the land, and "thanking the Earth" doesn't change the laws or conservation ethics. I recommend finding an agreeable land owner who will allow you to take what you need from private property.
The river itself takes more of the land in one second than this guy ever could. Look at the Grand Canyon for a good example of this.
@@cruiser97eric1 ,
Maybe, but it's also illegal to take soil out of (or into) the Grant Canyon. Natural soil erosion doesn't need human help.
"You will not be able to pernitrate it with your finger" 😮