A rolled coil of pale grey-cream clay lying horizontally, its surface smooth with soft finger marks along its length.
  • The clay coil from directly above, flattened into a broad pale strip with soft finger marks along its length.

Ball clays are considered highly plastic and are often the basis of many commercial clay bodies. They can be added to raw clays to increase plasticity or to slips and glazes to help keep materials in suspension. OM4 is a specific variety known for consistent particle size and performance.This sample is dry clay. Water is added to it to make wet clay, and then it will be formed and fired.

Composition

Kaolinite, Clay minerals, silica

Handling Notes

  • OM4 Ball Clay has higher plasticity and shrinkage compared to kaolin and other clays
  • It is typically blended with other materials and is rarely used alone

Applications in Craft

Keywords

Provenance

Del Harrow, Colorado. Acquired 2024.

Sources

  • Levy, Matt, Takuro Shibata, and Hitomi Shibata. Wild Clay: Creating Ceramics and Glazes from Natural and Found Resources. London: Herbert Press, 2022.
  • “Ball Clay,” Ceramic Materials Atlas, n.d.,https://ceramicmaterialsatlas.com/ball-clay/

In Use

Have you used this material?

Please contact Mellanee Goodman, Program Director, Curator, and Materials Specialist, to start a conversation about submitting your work for inclusion on this site.

mgoodman@centerforcraft.org

Variants