Where to find workable clay in Central Texas?

[TSCannon]

Hi all - a friend of mine had an unusual question that I thought someone here might be able to answer. He wants to try making his own clay to use for art/pottery, and was wondering where he should go to gather some that would be workable that could be fired as well. The creeks in central Austin have a lot of limestone and white/grey caliche stuff that doesn’t work well. Should he just head east to a creek in the Blackland Prairie region? Any ideas appreciated. Thanks!

[Rio Del Norte]

Because of my interest in southwest pottery I've searched the web for info and a couple of sites might get you back to Texas for a source. Search Andy Ward for info on what best clays were made of.

[TSCannon]

Thank you! Andy Ward’s site is amazing, thanks for the recommendation.

[SGT.Digger]

You see it in road cuts all the time, sometimes many feet thick. I find it tubing the frio and I’m sure it’s in other rivers . It will rehydrate too

[TSCannon]

Thanks!

[clovisoid]

Not sure about Texas, but a lot of clays used in ancient times were improved/cleaned. Your friend might have to sieve out a lot of gunk and grind dried clay down to a powder to get something workable.

Some of the finest Mississippian pottery didn't start with workable clay, it was a process to get it to the quality they needed with local material.

[LongStride]

I've found good clay around lake Whitney, was thinking the clay needs to be improved with Ash or shell etc. Haven't got this far yet my daughter and a are watching a series of videos here , https://youtu.be/M9MozKCEMTw