• There has been a recent cluster of spammers accessing BARFer accounts and posting spam. To safeguard your account, please consider changing your password. It would be even better to take the additional step of enabling 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) on your BARF account. Read more here.

What have you made lately?

DALL·E 2025-01-30 10.02.35 - A heavy metal concert scene with a little old man in the middle o...png
 
Many years ago I was an avid amateur mud addict/potter. I was content to buy my clay from the store because while I knew clay was abundant in the ground my joy was making infinite bowls and vases I didn't need and nobody really wanted even if they smiled and said thank you when given them

My back yard is made of clay. Sticky, black (color doesn't matter of course) slippery expansive soil garden killing clay. Thanks to the ewetoob al-gore-rhythm I am revisiting an experiment that I abandoned nearly 30 years ago in my parents side yard. I've been refining and experimenting with the wild clay, and primitive firing techniques in my own yard!

It starts as dirt with as many rocks as possible removed.

Then I went it with excess water stir and let that settle a few times. Then it goes through an orange pasta strainer I've had since college and that gets us down to a pretty consistent sticky goo that is completely unworkable.

Next, playground sand is mixed in at about 20-30% to reduce stickiness and increase plasticity so it doesn't break when building.

I was a little skeptical at first so I used a propane torch to heat some really large booger sized pieces red hot and lo and behold... It worked. They didn't dissolve in water after. Amazing

Next step has been to build a kiln for firing stuff because I can't find a kiln for a price I want to pay... Maybe I should have kept one from the few "I'm going to start pottery again" attempts? Oh well

Anyway, it was a good excuse to cut up a keg shell. The chimney is a titanium slip-on sleeve from Leo Vince. So fancy.

Why? Because I'll be dipped if Going to pay $20+ each for ollas to try to keep the garden alive this summer when the yard is an oven

I'll post another followup picture tomorrow when stuff is cooled off. I made a baby vase, my kiddo made a... A penor
 

Attachments

  • PXL_20250216_233646133.jpg
    PXL_20250216_233646133.jpg
    3.1 MB · Views: 95
  • PXL_20250122_211206846.jpg
    PXL_20250122_211206846.jpg
    3.2 MB · Views: 90
  • PXL_20250216_231629741.jpg
    PXL_20250216_231629741.jpg
    3.1 MB · Views: 89
  • PXL_20250216_233124841.jpg
    PXL_20250216_233124841.jpg
    2.3 MB · Views: 101
  • PXL_20250216_235144485.jpg
    PXL_20250216_235144485.jpg
    2.3 MB · Views: 80
auntiebling said:
Many years ago I was an avid amateur mud addict/potter. I was content to buy my clay from the store because while I knew clay was abundant in the ground my joy was making infinite bowls and vases I didn't need and nobody really wanted even if they smiled and said thank you when given them

My back yard is made of clay. Sticky, black (color doesn't matter of course) slippery expansive soil garden killing clay. Thanks to the ewetoob al-gore-rhythm I am revisiting an experiment that I abandoned nearly 30 years ago in my parents side yard. I've been refining and experimenting with the wild clay, and primitive firing techniques in my own yard!

It starts as dirt with as many rocks as possible removed.

Then I went it with excess water stir and let that settle a few times. Then it goes through an orange pasta strainer I've had since college and that gets us down to a pretty consistent sticky goo that is completely unworkable.

Next, playground sand is mixed in at about 20-30% to reduce stickiness and increase plasticity so it doesn't break when building.

I was a little skeptical at first so I used a propane torch to heat some really large booger sized pieces red hot and lo and behold... It worked. They didn't dissolve in water after. Amazing

Next step has been to build a kiln for firing stuff because I can't find a kiln for a price I want to pay... Maybe I should have kept one from the few "I'm going to start pottery again" attempts? Oh well

Anyway, it was a good excuse to cut up a keg shell. The chimney is a titanium slip-on sleeve from Leo Vince. So fancy.

Why? Because I'll be dipped if Going to pay $20+ each for ollas to try to keep the garden alive this summer when the yard is an oven

I'll post another followup picture tomorrow when stuff is cooled off. I made a baby vase, my kiddo made a... A penor
Click to expand...
I had many great times making clay bricks in Colonial Williamsburg with my son, who is now 34. Those clay pits were awesome to mess around in.
 
Did that,
Long time ago, I took up a challenge from my GF at the time.
We were in a grocery store, shopping for cc cookie ingredients,
Her kids the judges, who makes the best cc cookie.
I went with walnuts, and butterscotch chips, added to the chocolate ones.
I left them a little soft and chewy too,
 
CDONA said:
Did that,
Long time ago, I took up a challenge from my GF at the time.
We were in a grocery store, shopping for cc cookie ingredients,
Her kids the judges, who makes the best cc cookie.
I went with walnuts, and butterscotch chips, added to the chocolate ones.
I left them a little soft and chewy too,
Click to expand...
I'm guessing you didn't win? I mean, butterscotch chips? Holey hell, you mixed that with Walnuts too? :dunno
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top