Sea and Stone

New England born pagan archaeologist looking to share my craft, knowledge, and supplies to others! Check out my etsy below & message me for a discount! https://www.etsy.com/shop/StonehengeWiccan

[thestrangeforest]

Cynara cardunculus

[zhuanghongru]

Women’s Antique Handbags of the Early 20th Century.

[geopsych]

After a rain.

[mushfae]

[artisticlog-deactivated20231213]

A few little things you can get up and do right now to soothe your mind 🌞 pick one, go do it, now

[the-witchs-den]

this is so cool. definitely going to have to try it.

How to Process Soil into Clay for Pottery

How did primitive potters harvest clay?  People have been making pottery for millennia, and convenient hobby shops have only been a thing fo

[vintagegenderpunk]

This is definitely something people should try out, but be careful! I’m a professional ceramicist so please trust me that I know. 

It’s very difficult to actually find proper clay deposits to make ceramics with, and it will not be food safe no matter what. I’m talking like professional potters have trouble with this. If you fire the pieces with your homemade clay, be warned too that your pieces will likely be underfired -- aka not completely vitrified or mature. That means that it’ll be fragile and easily broken. 

If you want the long and the short of it, most proper lowfire earthy clay bodies need to reach 1925 degrees Fahrenheit and maintain that temperature for a bit before cooling down slowly, very gradually. If you heat it up too fast, it’ll explode. If you cool it too fast, it’ll dunt (break spontaneously at seams due to shrinkage differences across the piece) or simply crack. 

Clay =/= clay bodies either. Clay is the stuff from the earth. Clay bodies are formulated from a bunch of different things factored together so that the clay doesn’t simply melt in the heat. Clay bodies have silica (glass/clay), a stabilizer (keeps it from melting everywhere), and a flux (helps it get hot), and sometimes grog (coarse form of stabilizer). 

All this said... if you want to make ornaments or little trinkets or perhaps even things like spells or charms with your own homemade clay, go for it! 

Be wise about the environment. Don’t destroy a habitat if you can. Take only what you need. And dispose of any remnants properly, especially if you end up adding anything to the clay body. If you add anything with metals or such, dispose of it at a landfill, don’t just dump it out into the wild. 

[the-witchs-den]

thank you so much for adding this!! i know nothing about pottery, so this is very educational!

[vintagegenderpunk]

No problem! I wanted to manage expectations for folks, haha. I know professional potters who have tried and failed to make their own clay bodies from their backyards, so I didn’t really want folks to get super excited about making detailed things or like pottery etc with their own special clay, only to have it not work as planned.  Ceramics is like half baking-chemistry, half art, and it’s wild.

[itscolossal]

Vertical Dwellings Nestle into the Floating Miniature Landscapes of Rosa de Jong

[onenicebugperday]

The many colors of the metallic frog-legged leaf beetle, Sagra femorata, Chrysomelidae. Found throughout Asia.

Photo 1 by oldman19510, 2-3 by Len Worthington, 4-5 by Dinesh Valke, 6-7 by mark027, 8 by merrin, 9 by lesday, and 10 by wongvoonwah

[emmaklee]

various cicada-shaped knickknacks

[succulentlover77 / flickr]

[praying]

by Ian Fisher

[urlovelover]

[nemfrog]

Candlelight. Divine emblems. 1867.

Internet Archive

[sciencealert]

The Rocky Mountains are adorned with a high altitude meadows and forests, home to elk, bobcats and cute fuzzy picas, along with many other animals. ​ ​This gorgeous small slice is Niwot Ridge, 25 miles northwest of Boulder Colorado, which has been gradually recovering from ‘acid rain’. This was caused by vehicle emissions, before strict regulations were enforced, showing ecosystems can repair themselves if only we give them a real chance. 🌲🌲🦌 ​ ​📷 : William Bowman/University of Colorado

[a-path-by-the-moon]

[dadalux]

Vasjen Katro

[dailyghibli]

[highlandcattleofsaarela]

https://instagr.am/p/CJTYpm5hiaM/