My hunch was correct, the clay from Sacaton Wash does hold onto the vegetal paint to produce black designs from my Mesquite bean syrup. I presume that means it is Bentonite, although where that much volcanic ash would come from in this area is anybodys guess. Unfortunately the clay fires to a light yellow color, not even close to the right color for Salado Polychromes. One of the slips I used was mixed about 50/50 with white kaolin clay and even that was way too yellow, but it did still fire good and black so I think I can add allot more white clay to it and still get black paint, that will be my next experiment.
I have started construction of a puddled adobe firing pit, I hate to use the word “kiln” because it has such ugly, unauthentic connotations. This is really no more than a firing pit built above ground to keep me from getting down on my hands and knees and to allow fresh air to enter from below, stay tuned for pictures.
Tags: Clay, Salado
Posted in: Pottery
