Wild Clay

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This illustrated guide offers a comprehensive approach to sourcing, processing, and utilizing wild clay. Potters globally are exploring local landscapes to dig their own clay, discovering its unique properties for their craft. It serves as an excellent resource for novices, experts, educators, and students looking to connect their art with their environment. The authors share valuable insights from their extensive experience in the US and Japan, applicable to clays worldwide, helping readers navigate the trial-and-error process essential for finding the best uses for different materials. Clays can be suited for various applications, including sculpture, throwing, handbuilding, or as glazes and slips. The specific characteristics of found materials can yield diverse effects and surfaces, and even unfired clay can be adapted for use as colorful pastels or pigments. The guide features beautiful illustrations and technical descriptions detailing clay formation, collection, assessment, and testing for properties like shrinkage, water absorption, texture, and plasticity. It provides advice for testing and blending materials to adapt clay characteristics. From field prospecting to the final product, the guide offers support at every stage, along with a gallery showcasing the work of international potters who embrace local clays.