Question about clay

[Ed Brooks]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place.

I found some really big clay deposits along the ocean / bay, salt water. I don't know much about clay but, this stuff look really good & clean not to mention really easy to get.
my 1st question would be. Do you think there salt in the clay that needs to be dealt with, being that it is on the beach, and goes under water? if so, how would you go about getting the salt out of it, if you can?
if not do I just collect the material, form it and then let it dry before firing it? thanks in advance. Ed

[EdwardS]

no and yes, in a nutshell.  I don't dig clay any more but that's what I did when I did make items like that.

[Pat B]

The NA that lived along the Southern Coast used clay found around the salt marsh and made good pottery.

[mullet]

The NA that lived along the Southern Coast used clay found around the salt marsh and made good pottery.

Same along the Gulf Coast of Florida.

[jaxenro]

I realize this is different but salt was/is used as a glaze

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_glaze_pottery

Depending on the amount of salt and the other minerals you might get some interesting color added when firing

[Ed Brooks]

Thank you all for the feed back. looks like I'm going to have to try my hand at making a clay something . in the future. Ed