Native Waterford Clay

I’ve been digging and processing my own clay on my property for about 2-1/2 years. It is a wonderful clay to work with, very silty, plastic and easy to form into earthenware clay. The clay is dark olive green when it’s raw and it fires to a brilliant dark orange color. I’m also enjoying using the clay slip to create a beautiful dark chocolate glaze reminiscent of the original Albany Slip that was mined in Albany New York from the early to mid 1800s until 1980s. The clay is from an Alluvial clay vein in upstate New York that was formed at the end of the last ice age. Mining, forming, firing and using my pots has brought me great joy. I love thinking about the Native American people who inhabited this land and created pots from the same clay that I am creating with today.