Where can I find chalk rock and boulder clay?

How to get Natural clay workable?

• I was walking along a Puget Sound beach and saw a very large grey rock. It looked so smooth, but had ridges and folds in it, so I reached down and touched it. When I withdrew my hand I saw that grey residue came off on my fingers. I picked up a stick and poked the rock, only to find that it wasn't a rock it was clay! I had found a very large ( 3ft X1 1/2 ft) piece of clay. Some of it was under water, but a lot of it was above ground. I took a rock and broke off a piece of it, it was mold-able with enough water and force. So now what? I have about a half cup of this stuff that I brought home. What do I do to make it into real sculptors clay?

• Answer:

  There are some artists that dig their own clay from local deposits and make their own clay body. It is not an easy task. Depending on the type of clay you have it may be fairly workable or it may take many hours of testing and adding different clays and chemicals to make it into a clay body that is easy to work with and fires well. Some of the problems you may encounter are cracking during fabrication of your piece, cracking on drying, organic material that needs to be taken out and not firing very well. Certainly with the firing you need to test the temperature that it needs to fire to for vitrification (to be hard and waterproof). Another point, is for a sculpture clay body, many artists prefer to have grog (pre-fired clay) added to help the clay to hold its' shape. So have fun and make whatever you can, bisque it and then maybe paint it with acrylic paint to add some color if you want. If you want to high fire it, I would put it in a bowl so if it melts it won't hurt the kiln or shelves. You may want to do that even for the bisque. Good luck.