Four rough chunks of pale grey-white clay, dry and crumbly, their broken faces streaked with rust-orange staining.
  • A close view of one chunk, its broken face pale grey and chalky with rust-orange staining in the crevices.

White clay is a naturally occurring clay with low iron content, few impurities, and often high kaolinite content, resulting in a pale, light-colored appearance. This wild clay was dug in Mills River, North Carolina by Cherokee Potter Levi West.

Composition

Kaolinite, Clay minerals

Handling Notes

  • Typically fired at cone 5
  • When fired, this clay is white in color
  • 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.

Sources

  • Del Harrow, “Kaolin,” Ceramic Materials Atlas, December 4, 2023, https://ceramicmaterialsatlas.com/kaolin

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