Three rough lumps of dry red clay, crumbly and coarse, their broken faces mottled with pinkish grey.
  • Three lumps seen closer, their surfaces mottled pink and cream with crumbling broken faces.

Red clay is a naturally occurring clay rich in iron, which gives it a warm red or brown color when exposed to oxygen due to oxidation. This wild clay was dug in Yancey County, North Carolina by Cherokee Potter Levi West.

Composition

Clay minerals, iron compounds

Handling Notes

  • Typically fired at cone 5
  • When fired, this clay turns to a terracotta red
  • It is often used for hand-building, coil-building, and various techniques to create pottery and sculpture objects

Applications in Craft

Keywords

Provenance

Levi West, Cherokee, North Carolina. Acquired 2024.

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