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albany slip material in ohio

updated thu 30 sep 04

 

Steven Blankenbeker on sat 25 sep 04


We toyed with the idea of making Albany slip type materials at Cedar
Heights for many years, including bringing in actual New York state slip
clay (a 100% clay - no additives) which was tentatively called Empire State
Slip Clay. We actually sold the production runs to some potter friends,
but we were afraid of getting too much Redart in it in our process system,
so we never marketed the product, though at one time we had about 40 tons
processed. Still a chance I might revisit that material, as geologically it
is probably of the same time frame as true Albany, and the owner of the
clay still has interest in it being mined. In southern Ohio, there is a
glacial deposit which is geologically called "Minford Silt", and is common
in floodplains in the southeastern quarter of Ohio. This material, as some
have offered, had more alumina than Albany, and would not melt unless it
was heavily doped up with fluxes. By that time, it was not anything more
than a colorant. I would suspect that an area with very limey shales may
have some valley silts that would act more like Albany. I never found any,
and we looked a lot. Hard to find ultrafine alluvial deposits in
southeastern Ohio outside of these more refractory glacial types. The
other consideration is that the pottery market cannot sustain a clay
operation, especially for something like Albany. The biggest users of
Albany slip were grinding wheel manufacturers and ceramic insulators. Now
insulators are sky blue, and the grinding wheel industry uses controlled
frits for ceramic bonded wheels. Those two industries sustained the purer
ceramic market. And when those markets left, Albany slip was no more.
Anybody wanting to get into supplying this would need to be able to mine it
with a small backhoe, possibly wet process it, screen it, and then
filterpress it. Or maybe find a way to get it up and dry enough to mill in
a small hammermill. Usually the silts will disperse well even when ground
like this. But there simply is not enough cash flow to cover any
significant amount of machinery. In any case, I speak from experience.

Mert & Holly Kilpatrick on sun 26 sep 04


Steve,
I have found your recent emails about materials very interesting. Do you
have any knowledge or comments about Blackbird (Barnard) slip which seems to
be relatvely unique and lately seems to be falling into that same
economically unsustainable category?

Holly
East Bangor, PA


>-----Original Message-----
>From: Clayart [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG] On Behalf Of Steven
>Blankenbeker
>
>We toyed with the idea of making Albany slip type materials at Cedar
>Heights for many years, including bringing in actual New York state slip
>clay (a 100% clay - no additives) which was tentatively called Empire State
>Slip Clay. We actually sold the production runs to some potter friends,

>snip......


>Anybody wanting to get into supplying this would need to be able to mine it
>with a small backhoe, possibly wet process it, screen it, and then
>filterpress it. Or maybe find a way to get it up and dry enough to mill in
>a small hammermill. Usually the silts will disperse well even when ground
>like this. But there simply is not enough cash flow to cover any
>significant amount of machinery. In any case, I speak from experience.

steve baker on sun 26 sep 04


Dear Holly,

I don't want my New York "Albany Slip" source to be inundated with pickup trucks and shovel wielding potters, but since "slip" clays must be important enough for you to write, I'll share my source with you, but I didn't want to post it on Clayart. I am working on some clay things, and actually spoke with the owner a few weeks ago (he called) after not talking with them for many years, so I took that as an omen that "something" must be on the horizon.

About 1986 I went to Hamburg/Orchard Park, New York (south of Buffalo) to buy some used lab equipment from a potter (mixer, pugmill, etc.). The potter was working in an old factory which was now being run by Boston VAlley Terra Cotta, a restoration firm, which has grown a bunch since that time. They showed me around the place, which was once a flower pot making firm. And they mined their clay in the backyard. In passing, the owner told me - it's the same as Albany Slip. That stuck with me, and sometime in the mid 90's we bought a few truckloads from them. At that time they were selling it for landfill sealing, as the super slick stuff did a great job of sealing. They also had a semi active mine, a HUGE PLUS, and their own backhoe. I had set it up to pay them $50/ton for material loaded on the truck, which is an extreme sum for "landfill dirt" but dirt cheap for a good slip clay. They were happy. Cedar HEights would have about $100/ton for it landed at our plant before
processing. But the equipment to grind it needed to be the Redart system, as it would contaminate the white clay line. Well, between holding bins and dust collectors, we simply "lost" about 25% of it. And no doubt we got redart in it. If it wasn't ran in a small, cleanable system, no way at any price to make it work. So we had about 40 tons of beautiful stuff with no place to sell it. The tests of it were great, and my wood fired friends now have it stashed away in assorted places across America, each taking enough to get them well passed their funerals. I could take assorted blind samples with Albany and 9 out of 10 times knowledgeable potters would pick ours as the Albany.

The good news is the material is still there. I am not 100% certain that they would let you make a pilgrimage there to get some, but my hunch is that if you keep it low key and not share the info, that you can probably get all you need. JUst fill up five gallon buckets. The company again is Boston Valley Terra Cotta, in Hamburg or Orchard Park, New York. Nice website if you search them out. The owner is John Krause, and I think maybe his sister is Gretchen. Nice people. Maybe call or write John and tell him that I carefully gave you his name and that it was not my intention to share this with a bunch of potters, but since you are in PA, I thought it would not be out of the question for you to drive there. The other nice thing about this is that you can just mix it fresh with water, screen out the coarse trash (if any)(it is an alluvial deposit which means expect surprises), and you are ready to go. It doesn't need to be ground. And trust me, it is the real deal. Nothing
phony. If you have access to older Studio Potter magazines, they have one on Architectural Terra Cotta. They do a nice write up on BV. In the article, in a simple sentence, they state the material at the plant site "is the same as Albany slip". It is also pretty impressive to take this material fresh, throw it in a blender with water, dip a piece of bisqueware in it, fire it to cone 5 to 11, and get the most perfect glaze fit and colors - right out of the ground.

If you have any problems, let me know. Good luck.

Steve



Mert & Holly Kilpatrick wrote:
Steve,
I have found your recent emails about materials very interesting. Do you
have any knowledge or comments about Blackbird (Barnard) slip which seems to
be relatvely unique and lately seems to be falling into that same
economically unsustainable category?

Holly
East Bangor, PA


>-----Original Message-----
>From: Clayart [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG] On Behalf Of Steven
>Blankenbeker
>
>We toyed with the idea of making Albany slip type materials at Cedar
>Heights for many years, including bringing in actual New York state slip
>clay (a 100% clay - no additives) which was tentatively called Empire State
>Slip Clay. We actually sold the production runs to some potter friends,

>snip......


>Anybody wanting to get into supplying this would need to be able to mine it
>with a small backhoe, possibly wet process it, screen it, and then
>filterpress it. Or maybe find a way to get it up and dry enough to mill in
>a small hammermill. Usually the silts will disperse well even when ground
>like this. But there simply is not enough cash flow to cover any
>significant amount of machinery. In any case, I speak from experience.

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Gene Arnold on tue 28 sep 04


Steven

Is there any more Empire State Slip Clay to be had anywhere???

I have a bag that a potter friend gave me that I have been using with great
results, but I am almost out and would like to find some more if there is
any out there any where.


Gene & Latonna
mudduck@mudduckpottery.com
www.mudduckpottery.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steven Blankenbeker"
To:
Sent: Saturday, September 25, 2004 8:21 PM
Subject: Re: Albany slip material in Ohio


> We toyed with the idea of making Albany slip type materials at Cedar
> Heights for many years, including bringing in actual New York state slip
> clay (a 100% clay - no additives) which was tentatively called Empire
State
> Slip Clay.