Three rough chunks of dry clay in sandy ochre, coarse and crumbly, their surfaces streaked with darker rust staining.
  • Two chunks seen closer, their sandy ochre surfaces coarse and pitted with paler grit worked through the broken faces.

Yellow clay is a naturally occurring clay colored by partially oxidized iron compounds and other minerals present in its deposit. This wild clay was dug in Cherokee, 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