Florida Salt Marsh Clay 🌴
When fishing in the intercoastal waterways in NE Florida, we will always see the shell middens. Researching the Timucua and seeing how frequently they treated pottery as disposable, we felt that their source of clay had to be closer to the salt marshes than freshwater sources. A month ago I gathered a specific type of the mud and a specific layer , levigated it three times, let the material dry, and I was left with extremely plastic clay. After letting 4 test bowls dry with different or lack of temper , they became bone dry. Yesterday was the first firing and I just did one small, crushed-shell temper bowl. The mission was a success!! All outer sides of the bowl spalled (shells too big) but the inside was pristine and black, due to reduction. The outside is grey and reddish in spots. The bowl held water over night and only sweat the first hour, and no part of it turned back into mud!