3) For the past nine years in charge of research for the largest
clay products manufacturer in Western Canada. Brick, sewer-

pipe, porcelain.

Although the first two items are very important to me it is because of
the specific knowledge gained in the third that I presume to write. This
does not make me THE AUTHORITY but I feel that I will be able to say
something useful.

PRAY, WHAT CLAY, AND HOW ?
What is the best clay? If there was an absolute answer to this question,
and if I knew what it was, I would write it here, settling the question for
all time and becoming one of the world's great heroes, like Johnny
Appleseed. But of course there is no one best clay, there are hundreds
of them, and this is fine; our problem is that we have been looking at
them like the Five Blind Men of Pakistan examining the Elephant. It is
time we started taking a broader view. At least we should be able to
distinguish what constitutes GOOD.

Simply, a good clay is one that will enable a competent potter to easily
and economically do what he has set out to do. [If all potters were doing
the same thing in the same way, if they were all of the same technical
ability and temperament, all from the same background, if in fact they
were all identical images of one another, good clay to one would be
good clay to any other. But, we are not identical, we don't want to be
identical and we couldn't be identical if we wanted to. There is now

and there always will be a need for a great variety of good clays.

The contemporary pottery field is dominated by three main body types:
low-fire red, stoneware and fireclay. Porcelain and low-fire white
are not in such general use and "earthenware" and "'terra-cotta" are
restricted terms referring to applications of the three main types.
Regardless of the kind of clay being used, certain standards of judge-
ment are common, "feel" and "look" are not good enough, they must
fill specific requirements for each stage of the process. In judging a
clay we must be sure that we are making reasonable demands of it,
this in itself requires experience and know ledge.