Gregory's ServerFiltering of the mud has begun. I've removed large particles with a nylon vegetable bag I had lying around (one of those 'zero waste' ones you get in UK supermarkets but never end up using). Sediment filtering in water seems to be doing the rest of the work. The main difficulty, I think, will be drying the clay out given how damp everything in the west country is right now. Maybe boiling it on the hob at a low temperature is an effective way to remove the excess moisture?
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 Update: the nylon bag was too fine. I just spent 40 minutes boiling off water only to produce the most intense, pure, texture-of-chocolate intense mud you can imagine, and very little of it at that. Time to find a more coarse sieve. This stuff is the Swiss chocolate of mud, it's glorious in a way I can't begin to describe. I really, really want to eat some, it looks lovely. It's not lost on me that until I actually produce some clay, this is not functionally different to the daily activities of 3 year old me.  @jsbarretto it seems fun though! if you're still able to take pleasure in things you did when very young, that's something precious to be glad for Success! A less coarse sieve and some oven baking to remove excess moisture and I've a reasonable clay. Using some sand I have lying around (sadly not very fine) to act as grog, and I have a small pot.  @jsbarretto  @jsbarretto Just over a week later and, after drying in the attic suspended in an old pillowcase, I have myself about a kilogramme of fine clay. I'm quite impressed by how close this stuff feels and behaves to the 'professional' redware clay I bought to compare against. Maybe I'll try making something with it over the next few days. I'm sure it's bloomin obvious to anybody that's been doing pottery for a while, but the fact that clay is so easy to produce yourself (provided you have the soil for it) is quite enjoyable. @happyborg Ours also! Spaniels are such mucky buggers. We have to towel him down every time he comes inside |
I have no idea why I'm using my Thursday night after a day at work and a 3 hour commute to do this, but perhaps it's time to finally chase down that official autism diagnosis.