Unaker - Processing

I'm trying to get a little more of the white clay processed so that I can make a few items for processing. Also, Annie mentioned the pieces I showed in the blog earlier, wondering how they made it through the kiln

Well, they made it fine. This clay is very high fire so it isn't vitrified at cone 6. I'm almost positive it wouldn't be at cone 10 either without amendments. But it looks good for decorative purposes with the clear glaze. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the bowl before I took it over to Tom. This time I'll actually post of photo of the next finished piece.

Anyway, here is a short video showing how I process the clay:

Unaker - Made it through the bisque

I bisque fire my pots to cone 04, and the first tiny vase I made survived just fine. The clay really looks nice. The really small specks that were black before firing now have an iron red color too them. If you hold it in the sun they really stand out. Otherwise it has a very pale pink tone to it. Nothing like the other stuff I've used. My current iron-rich clay is very pink after bisque and the buff color clay I used previously is still significantly pinker.

After the bisque:

 

Here is a "greenware" (unfired)  bowl. It definitely has a greenish cast:

 

Unaker - Now what?

Below you'll see me with my score of white clay. Great, but now what? I did some research and came up with a plan. While the balls look like they are all clay, they have a large amount of sand trapped in them. So to separate the sand from the clay I do the following;

• Soak the dry clay in water to make it into a slurry
• Thin the slurry down so that the sand can settle in the bottom of the bucket.
• Pour the good water (with clay suspended) into something so the water can be removed.

I decided to use some small flower boxes and pieces of bed sheet. This allows the water to drip out over time leaving me with clay.

Lots of sand. This is what's left behind after I pour off the clay water:

Here's the clay drying up:

Finally, here's a small vase made with the clay:

Unaker

"The material is an earth, the produce of the Chirokee nation in America, called by the natives ‘unaker’, the propertys of which are as follows, videlicet,......" 1744 Ceramic Patent

This summer I've been on the trail of "Unaker" or Cherokee white clay. It has a long history in this area involving none other then Josiah Wedgwood (the preeminent English potter) and England's quest for porcelain to rival the Chinese. In 1767 Wedgwood sent a representative over to try to get a monopoly on the clay, but found that there was just too many complications involved regarding dealing with the natives and the high cost of transportation. It was a shame, because he declared the clay as superior to anything found in England.

Though it's Wedgwood's name that constantly comes up and his name as well on the historical marker nearby, there's compelling evidence that Andrew Duche' had already used the clay in the earliest English porcelain production.

Anyway, I've been intrigued by this clay and decided to find some. So I started asking around and got a few leads. I had a great time visiting with Zena Pearl and Ed (octogenarians)  and hearing more about the area and how things were 50 years ago around here. Through a friend I was finally put in touch with the owner of a local ruby mine, Tom Sterrett. Keep in mind that Franklin is after all, the "Gem Capital of the World". Anyway, it turns out that when Tom is using his trac hoe to dig up dirt for the  customers he hits veins of clay. To him the clay is a bane and he was very generous in allowing me to come over last Sunday and load up the minivan with chunks of white clay.

Click below for more reading:

Pictures of the Wedgwood pottery made with this clay 

Did Duche' beat Wedgwood to the punch?

Another guy backs the notion that Duche' is the man