How To Make Clay At Home (It's Just Dirt)

How To Make Clay At Home (It's Just Dirt)

Making clay is not that hard. Not too long ago it was part of most potters jobs to dig and process all the clay they used. Yet today it is almost a lost art. In this video I show you 3 methods for making clay at home, simply and easily.

Some clay processing equipment
Screen – https://amzn.to/3J5GdZy
Another screen – https://amzn.to/3Kbt3LS
Paint strainer bags – https://amzn.to/3NOONzk
Metate for grinding clay – https://amzn.to/3DGoczQ
Hand cranked mill for grinding clay – https://amzn.to/3DIjhP0

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0:00 What Is Clay?
2:02 Selecting the Right Dirt To Make Clay With
4:58 The 3 Methods For Making Dirt Into Clay
9:03 Tempering Clay So It Won’t Crack

#wildclay

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50 Comments

  1. @NicoisatYoutube on March 3, 2025 at 10:56 pm

    I live in a big yard with a lot of dirt that has a lot of clay

  2. @linandy1 on March 3, 2025 at 10:57 pm

    My dirt is mostly sand

  3. @edim108 on March 3, 2025 at 11:01 pm

    Around my parts there used to be a BUNCH of brickyards- three a couple minute walk from my house and at least 4 more in the town- because the dirt is so rich in clay.
    There are entire man made lakes that used to be clay quarries before the brickyards went out of business in 90s and eary 2000s. Even the coat of arms of our city is a red brick fort.
    There’s so much of it that I had to sift out entire fist sized chunks of it from the dirt when I was making my raised bed tomato garden and mix it with like 200 liters of potting soil.
    Great for pottery and a wattle and daub shed but a huge hassle for gardening bc you have to prepare the soil several feet down to plant anything other than an apple tree or something.

  4. @Soldier-k8r on March 3, 2025 at 11:01 pm

    CHRIST IS KING. ✝️

  5. @fairweee8058 on March 3, 2025 at 11:01 pm

    Glad your channel came up in my feed. My cousins showed me the clay they used in their yard as a kid. Just for play purposes. White clay was used as a slurry to the keep the fireplace bricks looking clean. Looking forward to watching your content. Thanks for sharing.

  6. @Vandrock on March 3, 2025 at 11:01 pm

    Refine not make…

  7. @MuhammadAhmad-x7m on March 3, 2025 at 11:01 pm

    Just show it alreadyπŸ·πŸ–•

  8. @leftistadvocate9718 on March 3, 2025 at 11:02 pm

    wait until this guy finds out what a mortar and pestle is

  9. @diversely. on March 3, 2025 at 11:02 pm

    We have an area with about 50 million white clay in Yemen, Marib.

  10. @Mikejones011990 on March 3, 2025 at 11:03 pm

    20% sand. By weight, or volume?

  11. @DThunderGunB on March 3, 2025 at 11:04 pm

    How does the sand not show up the pottery that stuff looked coarse

  12. @princesssilence2707 on March 3, 2025 at 11:05 pm

    As a person who lives in a country where there is no clay for sale, that was super beneficial.
    Thank you so much..

  13. @theactualeverest5088 on March 3, 2025 at 11:07 pm

    Can you use this clay for metal casting or is it a different type of clay you need

  14. @Defhrone on March 3, 2025 at 11:09 pm

    Now I just need to find some copper, tine and iron ore and I can advance from the stone age to the iron age

  15. @DThunderGunB on March 3, 2025 at 11:10 pm

    The best place to fins clay that doesn’t need a lot of processing is in creek beds. Often times I go down to the creek my brother and I grew up playing around, has carved itself some goo’s sized walls and in some spots there’s sandy beach areas but where it floods a lot you can walk along the walls and notice they’re full of nearly pure clay. They may have tree roots in them but it’s what the Indians did to get pottery clay. Mt friends mom gave me the idea, she did that when she was a little girl

  16. @Shurpus on March 3, 2025 at 11:11 pm

    7:11 Hello doggo!

  17. @smolpener7430 on March 3, 2025 at 11:11 pm

    Clay is water soluble. Just soak it in water, skim the top, seperate the sediment, and pour the water in a drying tray and leave it in the sun.

  18. @DiviAether on March 3, 2025 at 11:12 pm

    Are you in AZ? I’m in Phoenix and that dirt looks VERY familiar not to sound weird πŸ˜‚

  19. @ralboraggins9564 on March 3, 2025 at 11:13 pm

    you found poop

  20. @GreyWalker-isme on March 3, 2025 at 11:14 pm

    Dirt is what you wash off your hands. Clay is just one possible component of soil. If your soil doesn’t have clay, like central Florida then you ain’t making clay. You can play with all the sand in the world and it won’t make clay.

  21. @Dead.garden on March 3, 2025 at 11:17 pm

    Can I use camp fire ash with no charcoal in it.

  22. @ElZarDelComercio on March 3, 2025 at 11:18 pm

    Sir I admire the way you teach this ancient knowledge, please keep your investigation about different pottery methods. How about McCarty’s style?

  23. @gooftroop505 on March 3, 2025 at 11:20 pm

    What a gangster. Bravo!

  24. @woodworkingandepoxy643 on March 3, 2025 at 11:20 pm

    My yard is basically entirely orange clay lol

  25. @KatannyaTayler on March 3, 2025 at 11:22 pm

    Thank you great video!

  26. @kkarall5060 on March 3, 2025 at 11:23 pm

    Yall never dug a whole and hit clay before?

  27. @alexandriatempest on March 3, 2025 at 11:26 pm

    He’s probably going to mention this, but just remember that if you’re foraging, you want to be aware of what environmental pollutants could be in the area. When foraging for plants you have to be careful of this too

  28. @Randall5005 on March 3, 2025 at 11:29 pm

    Working or playing in the dirt exposes you to microorganisms that can strengthen your immune system. Save yourself an expensive hospital visit. Eat dirt.

  29. @scotthawkins7128 on March 3, 2025 at 11:30 pm

    I went to dig up Clay one day for a science project.
    I couldn’t remember where I buried him.

  30. @Sinhzz on March 3, 2025 at 11:32 pm

    My man risking it all to teach us about clay. Respect 2:47

  31. @jethyperion-gi1yo on March 3, 2025 at 11:32 pm

    U can also use a wine pump to pump out the water without sucking up the clay in the buckets instead of dumping it an wasting some clay.

  32. @ralboraggins9564 on March 3, 2025 at 11:33 pm

    you literally found poop

  33. @MuhammadAhmad-x7m on March 3, 2025 at 11:33 pm

    Bro you just load your video on internet I should not see this video fool

  34. @brendabadih8855 on March 3, 2025 at 11:37 pm

    I’ve been decanting tubs full of mosquitoe larvae thru a pillow case for years! The tea is clear and larvae free. The pcase has leaves and muck, l hang it and when dry empty into the garden. I’m in Houston, we have lots of clay. Gumbo. I have learned to appreciate it. Enjoyed this info.

  35. @WhiteNoise493 on March 3, 2025 at 11:37 pm

    A 4:1 ratio would give you a 25% sand mixture, not 20%.

  36. @misterhat5823 on March 3, 2025 at 11:37 pm

    My dirt has a large percentage of dog doo.

  37. @robinfielding1108 on March 3, 2025 at 11:38 pm

    my back yard I moved to the south red dirt red clay country

  38. @seguefischlin on March 3, 2025 at 11:39 pm

    I have been fooled by high silt soils. I don’t think it’s that easy. Besides, Black Rock Desert has that cracked earth texture but is incredibly poor in clay levels (it fires badly), while the nearby Hualapai Flat had similar cracked earth texture and high levels of clay (fired well). Other possibilities is that the BRD has such high levels of other minerals that act to separate the fine particles rather than permit them to bind. I was going to use my own dirt on my own property for making earthen floors and it turned out that it tested high in SILT not clay. The amount of clay was only about 13% and silt was about 60%. For an amateur, they look and behave similarly at first glance. This is interesting but this amateur might just end up buying the clay LOL

  39. @jackryan9587 on March 3, 2025 at 11:40 pm

    good video man thanks. one question, why not leave some of the junk in the original dirt to act as grog. i’ve never done any of this, so i’m just curious. maybe just cleaner and more uniform?

  40. @FantyandMingo on March 3, 2025 at 11:40 pm

    20% by volume or weight?

  41. @Tom-gv4vx on March 3, 2025 at 11:41 pm

    One time at band camp,,i found some awesome white clay in a pond bank and mase a really awesome pipe w it

  42. @spacekitty3137 on March 3, 2025 at 11:42 pm

    Thank you for teaching me this πŸ™

  43. @koodude2313 on March 3, 2025 at 11:42 pm

    "Dont spend all day watching youtube"

    Don’t tell me what to do dirt boy.

  44. @NyaDudi-w6t on March 3, 2025 at 11:43 pm

    Your amazing πŸ‘πŸΎπŸ˜Š

  45. @Jdog_yt20 on March 3, 2025 at 11:46 pm

    Can somebody come and get their dad he keeps rambling at seagulls about clay

  46. @meandego on March 3, 2025 at 11:47 pm

    Guy is like Indiana Jones of Clay.

  47. @derpmaninfinite5344 on March 3, 2025 at 11:48 pm

    i love living in georgia red clay everywhere

  48. @milodixx6298 on March 3, 2025 at 11:49 pm

    beautiful

  49. @temi6730 on March 3, 2025 at 11:50 pm

    So glad I found this. Wish you were my chemistry/physics teacher – it owuld have been better with your simple and practical approach

  50. @choff01 on March 3, 2025 at 11:54 pm

    Sir, thanks for the info. You totally rock!

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