Republic of the Philippines

PARTIDO STATE UNIVERSITY

Goa, Camarines Sur

_______Tinambac____________
Name of Campus/ College

Module 10
CRAFTS USING CLAY AND STONE

Name of Student: _________________________________ Week No: _____16__________________________

Course Code: _____ESELEC3______________________ Name of Faculty: ______YOLDA T. ABANTE_______
Course Title: _ Indigenous Creative Craft________________________________________________________

I. OBJECTIVES

At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:

1. Know the significance and uses of clay to industries and to people.

2. Distinguish different kinds of pottery.
3. Craft a particular object out of clay and discuss.

II. LESSON

Clay minerals most commonly form by prolonged chemical weathering of silicate-bearing rocks. Weathering of the
same kind of rock under alkaline conditions produces illite. Smectite forms by weathering of igneous rock under
alkaline conditions, while gibbsite forms by intense weathering of other clay minerals.

Origin of Clay:

Synthetic formation
All the clay minerals, with the possible exception of halloysite, have been synthesized from mixtures of oxides or
hydroxides and water at moderately low temperatures and pressures. Kaolinite tends to form in alumina-silica
systems without alkalies or alkaline earths. Illite is formed when potassium is added to such systems. And either
smectite or chlorite results upon the addition of magnesium, depending on its concentration. The clay minerals can
be synthesized at ordinary temperatures and pressures if the reactants are mixed together very slowly and in greatly
diluted form. Clay minerals of certain types also have been synthesized by introducing partial structural changes to
clay minerals through the use of chemical treatments. Vermiculite can be formed by a prolonged reaction in which
the potassium of mica is exchanged with any hydrated alkali or alkaline earth cation. Chloritic minerals can be
synthesized by precipitating hydroxide sheets between the layers of vermiculite or montmorillonite. The reverse
reactions of these changes are also known. A mechanism of mineral formation involving a change from one mineral
to another is called transformation and can be distinguished from neoformation, which implies a mechanism for the
formation of minerals from solution.

Formation in nature
In nature both mineral formation mechanisms, neoformation and transformation, are induced by weathering and
hydrothermal and diagenetic actions. The formation of the clay minerals by weathering processes is determined by
the nature of the parent rock, climate, topography, vegetation, and the time period during which these factors
operated. Climate, topography, and vegetation influence weathering processes by their control of the character and
direction of movement of water through the weathering zone. In the development of clay minerals by natural
hydrothermal processes, the presence of alkalies and alkaline earths influences the resulting products in the same
manner as shown by synthesis experiments. Near-neutral hydrothermal solutions bring about rock alteration,
including the formation of illite, chlorite, and smectite, whereas acid hydrothermal solutions result in the formation
of kaolinite.

USES
1. Ceramics - brick, tile, stoneware and glazed products
2. Soaps and absorbents
3. Porcelain, whiteware and refractories (kaolimite)
4. Extender in aqueous-based paints
5. Filler in natural and synthetic polymers
6. Smectitic clays (bentonite) are employed primarily in the preparation of muds for drilling oil wells.
7. notably palygorskite, sepiolite, and some smectites, possess substantial ability to remove coloured bodies from
oil. These so-called fuller’s earths are used in processing many mineral and vegetable oils.
8. Fuller’s earths are also used commercially for preparing animal litter trays and oil and grease absorbents
9. Much gasoline is manufactured by using catalysts prepared from a smectite, kaolinite, or halloysite type of clay
mineral.
10. Kaolinite clays are used as paper fillers and paper coating pigments.
11.  Palygorskite-sepiolite minerals and acid-treated smectites are used in the preparation of no-carbon-required
paper because of the colour they develop during reactions with certain colourless organic compounds.
 Republic of the Philippines
PARTIDO STATE UNIVERSITY
Goa, Camarines Sur

12. Dense smectite clays can be compacted as bentonite blocks to serve as effective barriers to isolate radioactive
wastes. 
13. Various clays may absorb various pollutants including organic compounds (such as atrazine, trifluraline,
parathion, and malathion) and inorganic trace metals (such as copper, zinc, cadmium, and mercury) from soils and
groundwater.
14. Clay is also used as an effective barrier in landfills and mine tailing ponds to prevent contaminants from
entering the local groundwater system. 

Pottery, - one of the oldest and most widespread of the decorative arts, consisting of objects made of clay and
hardened with heat. The objects made are commonly useful ones, such as vessels for holding liquids or plates or
bowls from which food can be served.

I
Image: brittenica

Kinds of Pottery

1. Earthenware -the first kind of pottery made, dating back about 9,000 years. In the 21st century, it is still widely used. The
earthenware body varies in colour from buff to dark red and from gray to black. The body can be covered or decorated
with slip (a mixture of clay and water in a creamlike consistency, used for adhesive and casting as well as for decoration), with a
clear glaze, or with an opaque tin glaze. Tin-glazed earthenware is usually called majolica, faience, or delft (see
below Decorative glazing). If the clear-glazed earthenware body is a cream colour, it is called creamware. Much of the
commercial earthenware produced beginning in the second half of the 20th century was heat- and cold-proof and could thus be
used for cooking and freezing as well as for serving.

2. Stoneware - is very hard and, although sometimes translucent, usually opaque. The colour of the body varies considerably; it
can be red, brown, gray, white, or black. Fine white stoneware was made in China as early as 1400 BCE (Shang dynasty).
In Korea, stoneware was first made during the Silla dynasty (57 BCE–935 CE); in Japan, during the 13th century (Kamakura
period). The first production of stoneware in Europe was in 16th-century Germany. When tea was first imported to Europe from
China in the 17th century, each chest was accompanied by a red stoneware pot made at the Yixing kilns in Jiangsu province.
This ware was copied in Germany, the Netherlands, and England. At the end of the 17th century, English potters made a salt-
glazed white stoneware that was regarded by them as a substitute for porcelain. In the 18th century, the Englishman  Josiah
Wedgwood made a black stoneware called basaltes and a white stoneware (coloured with metallic oxides) called jasper. A fine
white stoneware, called Ironstone china, was introduced in England early in the 19th century. In the 20th century, stoneware was
used mostly by artist-potters, such as Bernard Leach and his followers.

3. Porcelain - was first made in China during the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE). The kind most familiar in the West was not
manufactured until the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368 CE). It was made from kaolin (white china clay) and petuntse (a feldspathic
rock also called china stone), the latter being ground to powder and mixed with the clay. During the firing, which took place at a
temperature of about 2,650 °F (1,450 °C), the petuntse vitrified, while the refractory clay ensured that the vessel retained its
shape.

4. Ball clays - are highly plastic and contain few mineral impurities. They fire to their mature hardness at about 2336 F (1300 C).
When moist they are dark grey and when fired they are either light grey or light buff. Ball clays do have a serious drawback.
They cannot be used by themselves due to their excessive shrinkage during drying and firing. They are extremely useful,
however, when added to other clays to increase workability and plasticity .

5. Fire clays vary widely in their characteristics. The hallmark is their high firing range. They mature at about 2696 F (1500 C).
Although relatively free from mineral impurities, they tend to have spots of iron which lend a speckled appearance once fired.
Fire clays are often used in stoneware clay bodies to increase their maturation temperature and to give the fired clay a bit extra
roughness, or "tooth". They are also used fuel-fired kilns to create cone packs (which monitor temperature), as supports for ware
or shelving, and to seal doors.

Significance:

The history of ceramics began with the discovery of fire. Its origin was the need to protect and store water. They were used in pot
making for centuries and also in making bricks for buildings. Ceramics, pottery, earthenware, etc. illuminate the history  of the
 Republic of the Philippines
PARTIDO STATE UNIVERSITY
Goa, Camarines Sur

place or a country. They are interesting not only because of their shapes but for the decoration on them as well.  Pottery or
ceramics making can developed own individual style making it unique and more personalized. This can be an exemplar work of
art due to various caricatures and design in each object.

It has also ositive impact on individuals working in the sector, their families and communities, particularly rural dwellers, those
with little or no formal education and other marginalised people.

Benefits for individual producers and enterprises in rural areas are greater than in urban areas. Producers having access to
consistent purchasing by formal craft organisations or by tourists benefit the most.

Profitability is high. Positive impact on poverty reduction, employment creation, social welfare, culture, and the economies of the
country.

III. ACTIVITIES

In your own backyard, determine if it is somewhat clay type of soil. If not use a molding clay or clay like material and
try to make an object out of it. You can do this by individual or group as per your convenience. Only 4 individuals are
required for each group.

IV. ASSESSMENT

With the kind of object you created out of the clay, answer the following questions:

1. Explain or discuss the product that you have made as well as its use/s
2. What is the significance of the object to the individual/people.

V. REFERENCES

https://www.britannica.com/science/clay-mineral/Origin
https://www.google.com/search?
as_q=origin+of+clay&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&lr=lang_en&cr=&as_qdr=all&as_sitesearch=&as_occt=any&
safe=images&as_filetype=&tbs=sur%3Af
https://www.britannica.com/art/pottery
https://www.britannica.com/art/pottery/Porcelain
https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/clay-basics-2746314
https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/28824/1/10672993.pdf