Recently one of my teen groups took an interest in harvesting
wild clay, and decided to try refining it.
When we dig up the clay, it's not only quite crumbly, but also
full of rocks, dirt, forest detritus and sand.
So over a period of a few weeks, these teens processed some of our
local clay into a lovely smooth sculpting medium, and I thought
I'd share the simple method they used.
We have easily-accessible clay all over our island, appearing in
creeks and gullies, and dumped in shiny blue mountains when we
excavate for wells and the like. This clay came from a very small creek. The group found mostly green clay, with a few pockets of a
gorgeous pale blue-grey clay that was quite pure already. They
used spoons, stones, a trowel and shovels to scrape their harvest
from just above the water level, and found various benefits to
each. It seems that the best way to collect the clay is to scrape
it gently, dragging the side of a spoon, rock, or shovel along as
you might drag your hand across bed linens to smooth them. The
reason for this is that any digging into the clay removes chunks
of crumbly clay that are quite difficult to grind or squish into a
smooth lump. Scraping not only pushes water into the top layer,
but pulls off such a small wet layer at a time that the resulting
clay is much softer and doesn't require grinding or squishing to
render it moldable.
Much of what the group collected was in fact crumbling and needed
grinding, so once they had nearly half a bucket full, they used
hands, a potato masher, and a shovel to grind it up until it was a
nice heavy sludge. Some rocks and twigs were already coming out of
it, and they removed those right away.
Then they left the clay slop in the bucket, undisturbed, where it
settled out. After a week, we returned to find the rocks settled
to the bottom, the sandiest clay above that, the smoother clay
slip above that, and the water on top. At this point the group
poured the water off the top, and the cleanest slip (about forty
or fifty pounds worth) they poured into an old pillow case and
hung up over the creek to settle again, and dry.
When we returned after another week, the clay hadn't dried as much
as we hoped it would in the pillow case, but had settled nicely
again, a layer of heavy sandy clay on the bottom, smooth sloppy clay
in the middle, and slip on top. We easily scooped the best quality
clay from the top of that in the bag and divided it among us.
Most of the group chose to use their sloppy clay to paint with, but
some of us brought some home, where it will dry a little more (on a
cloth-covered board) until it's a good working consistency.
Although this activity was, as usual, conceived by the group, I
delighted in facilitating, and in seeing so many positive learning
outcomes of the process. Most obviously, group working skills were
developed, but so too were skills of problem-solving, improvisation,
and process development. Working hands-on promotes a deeper
understanding of the nature of this ecosystem, its constituents, and
its changeability. When you separate out the layers of the forest
floor you become familiar with it in a way that is deeper than mere
description and images can convey. History, ecology, and engineering
are integrated. And of course, when you're doing this exploratively,
you are engaged through the process of genuine discovery. This
activity was also a great opportunity to change a material that we
regularly walk over without concern through a process of very simple
refinement into a material that many people purchase in plastic
bags. I think this not only strengthens our connection to
wilderness, but also to our own ingenuity. Together these are part
of what makes us human.
