I just made my first trip up to Stancill's Mine in Perryville, Maryland and suggest the trip to anyone interested in trying unrefined, non-air floated clay.  The experience was a real eye opener.  For years, I have either mixed clay from commercial ingredients or purchased boxes of prepared clay.  Most of them work quite well for their intended purpose, but their ease of use is a trade off for kind of a gutless quality.  Not so with unrefined clay.   Ease of use is partly sacrificed in exchange for a tremendous amount of character; at least in the case of Stancill's clay.

First of all, my trip to the mine was really a warm, inviting experience.  The folks there are very accomodating with potters and seem eager to be helpful.  I was led to the site of their veins of "mixed", sandy clay, and then to the sight of their "pond clay".
I got out my shovel and buckets and dug about 250 lbs. of each to experiment with.  At the end, they simply asked for my email, phone, and mailing address and seem to be putting together a list of potters who visit the mine.  Some come from as far away as New England.

When I got back to my studio, I quickly mixed up a small batch of each of the two types of clay.  I did no screening.  I only removed the large rocks, etc.  Then I threw four loose tea bowls from each.  The pond clay is much smoother than the rough and tumble mixed clays, although both pulled right up.

These pots have since been fired to cone 12-13 in a wood kiln and they were used "straight"....no chemical or dry clay additions.  They flashed and took ash very well and the Shino liner glazes I used worked out fine.  They do, though, have a distincly different look and feel from the ware that I make from commercial clay.

The quality of the unrefined clay demands a very direct, unfussy approach.  It immediately became clear to me that our materials guide us toward certain kinds of forms when we surrender to them. 

I am very excited about this new discovery and feel that it gives me a supremely valuable tool to move in the direction that I am already headed.

I will be posting photos of them on my website after my next firing at the end of October.

Bruce Bowers