Understanding Pottery Chapter 11 Use of Local Materials Part 2 of 2

Welcome to Understanding Pottery, Chapter 11: Use of Local Materials: Treasures in your Backyard Part 2 of 2. Traditionally, potters used whatever clay, fuel, and other materials were locally available for their craft. Since the advent of technology and long-distance transportation, potters have gotten away from such materials in favor of more standardized, commercially available products. However, there is a growing interest in reconnecting with our past traditions and simpler raw materials. This is part 2 of 2 parts.
The next topic in the series is Atmospheric Firing.
Understanding Pottery is a series in production by Washington Street Studios. The video series is a digital textbook that will take you through the entire ceramic process from the raw material through the finished ceramic pieces. There are five sections and twenty-six chapters planned in the series and they are:
Section I: The Pottery Making Sequence
Chapter 1: What is Clay?
Chapter 2: Clay Properties and Drying
Chapter 3: Bisque Firing
Chapter 4: Tips for Successful Glazing
Chapter 5: Pyrometric Cones
Chapter 6: Glaze Firing
Section II: Use of Raw Materials
Chapter 7: Chemistry for Potters
Chapter 8: Glaze Chemistry
Chapter 9: Oxides, Washes, Underglazes and Stains
Chapter 10: Geology for Potters
Chapter 11: Use of Local Materials
Section III: Kilns and Firings
Chapter 12: Atmospheric Firings
Chapter 13: Wood-Fired Kilns
Chapter 14: Gas-Fired Kilns
Chapter 15: Electric Kilns
Chapter 16: Raku Kilns
Section IV: Solving Problems
Chapter 17: Kiln Performance Problems
Chapter 18: Clay Body Defects
Chapter 19: Glaze Defects
Section V: Practical Applications
Chapter 20: Pottery Myths, Errors and Misconceptions
Chapter 21: Thixotropy, Quartz Inversions and Other Pottery Mysteries
Chapter 22: Pottery and Physics
Chapter 23: Pottery Figurin’ (Math)
Chapter 24: Personal Safety with Pottery
Chapter 25: Critiquing Your Own Pottery: Design Principles You Can Use
Chapter 26: Tips for Buying Used Pottery Equipment

At Washington Street Studios, we believe the sharing of creative energy and knowledge will improve the quality of our art and increase the appreciation of art within our community. We are striving to create an environment where the arts are shared and appreciated. We want to grow as a family of artists and contribute to our community. This podcast is one of our steps to share our passion for the ceramic arts, creative energy and knowledge with other artists and art lovers.

We also created an audio version to expand our audience. If you are looking for the podcast of our show search for the ‘The Potters Round Table’ on your podcast platform of choice.

[WashingtonStreetStudios]

This comment was received from Brandy Andersen from our podcast platform and it was good so I thought I would share it here.

Hi Mr. Berneburg,
I've been enjoying your round table lectures while I work delivering food. I hope to find time to watch the youtube versions as well, but greatly appreciate the podcast I can listen to while driving, I pull over to take notes often.

In your "treasures in your backyard" pt 2, you mention using river sand as a grog, and the lime pops that can happen because of shell fragments (minute 22:30)

I did find a mention online of bisque firing collected sand then rinsing to avoid lime pops in this thread, it's in the first reply

"Sand is made of mostly silica, which has a very high melting point. Is this beach sand? If it is, I would recommend bisque firing some in a pot first and then rinsing it because you will get calcium in your clay otherwise. This could also be known as lime or plaster popping. Have you ever had glaze pop off your pot and in the center there is a white dot? That is a glob of calcium/lime/plaster."

I've been collecting sand/tiny gravel from the rivers here in central texas, it's a fun thing to do with my kids, we bring the 10 mesh sieve and bucket and do most of the work sitting in the river. I hope to make pots with grog from each river bed, added as a surface slip made from the cone 6 grogged stoneware clay body. The difference in minerals from each river is lovely, and so far my tests are promising. Like you said, it definitely makes the pots look more unique and I hope the local material addition will appeal to folks here, give it some story. But some rivers are definitely loaded with more shell bits than others, and I can't tell until after bisque..

My question is, theoretically, would bisque firing river sand (to cone 04) then rinsing really remove the calcium/lime issue? Is it that simple? I will test of course, but it takes me a long time to fill a kiln and I'd like to know if you had another recommendation I should try as well in the next load.

Thank you again for the wonderful lectures,
I hope you and yours are well,
Brandy Andersen

[larrylass]

Thank you for information on local raw materials that I missed when becoming a hobby potter. I am living in the middle of kaolin clay/ volcanic ash heaven but local classes covering this topic were always full or pricey so I stopped looking. I always wanted to process and use local materials but early failures slowed progress while learning. I am finally making my own clay body and glazes from locally mined clay. Time to repair the homemade ball mill and try processing other local materials. Appreciate the ideas.

[mosseyw]

I learned a lot of new stuff regarding local materials after listening to this, thanks again 👍😊

[gabrielaraujonjaim]

Hello guys! Thank you so much for another amazing lesson! I would like to kindly ask for the handout for this lesson. When Phil speaks about the recipes, we can`t really know the percentages, because they are on the handout guys have in class. :)

[darlenedsdesigns]

I have new powdered terra cotta clay. Low fire. Do you have a recipe using that?