Pottery

  Formally speaking, "clay" is microsapphire particulate with 12.5 +/- 2.5 nm particle size deposited by evaporation on the beds of ancient seas.

  If you make pottery without clay, however, it's just brick or adobe. Also, if you cannot find vast clay deposits, most soil contains a fair amount of actual clay.



  The forge you built as a metals forge will get hot enough to fire clay to stoneware, as will a fire in a barbecue or campfire, and being able to ring a pot like a bell is a sign that it fired successfully. As such, this section is mostly about extracting and purifying clay.

  It's astoundingly simple. Get a bucket, chuck some dirt in, break it up, and swirl it around. The clay will remain suspended in the water, so if you pour off and dry the fine grains of the mudwater, you will have clay. Congratulations, we just saved you huge sums of money at the art supplies store.

  Generally, ten to twenty percent of either sand, or previously fired clay ground to dust is added for body.

  For those in need of a glaze, an ash glaze may be prepared by stirring the ashes of a fire in the minimal body of water and breaking up clumps. It is one of humanity's first glazes, and it tends toward greens and browns.

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