Alaskan Clay

Clay suitable for use in pottery occurs in many places in Alaska, but clay from only a very few localities has actually been used in modern Alaskan pottery. Important sources are the extensive clay layers intermingled with the coal beds near Healy. A mixture of Healy clay and clay from near the Chulitna River crossing of the Parks Highway has been found by Fairbanks area potters to be suitable for making thrown clay objects.

In throwing clay, one forms the material on a rotating wheel. Slippage along the flat platelets of the clay particles allows the clay to be formed into bowls and more complex circular shapes. The Chulitna and most of the Healy clay is grayish, but when fired it turns white. Some of the Healy clay that is yellow when found turns brick red when fired.

For sale in many Alaskan shops are brown and cream ceramic pieces made by the slip casting process. In slip casting, a very fluid blend of several clays is poured into a plaster mold. The mold absorbs water from the outer portion of the clay, causing it to become viscous. Then the mold is tipped to pour out the still-fluid center, leaving a rind still within the mold. After further drying, the object is removed from the mold and fired.

The marbleized effect in some clay products sold in Alaska is achieved by simultaneously pouring two different slips into the mold. In these products the cream color derives from a commercial clay obtained outside Alaska, and the brown color comes from a famous Alaskan clay, the Bootlegger Cove Clay.

The Bootlegger Cove Clay receives its fame not from its use by potters, but because its existence beneath parts of the city of Anchorage caused great damage during the 1964 earthquake. Persistent ground shaking caused the clay to liquefy and thereby lose its strength. Subsequently, parts of Turnagain Heights, L Street, Fourth Avenue and Government Hill slid downward on a potter's "slip" of Bootlegger Cove Clay.