A common concern we get from homeowners who are considering using American Clay is in regards to cleaning. “How do you clean a material that never sets up?” and “What if a wall happens to get stained?” are questions we get on a regular basis. Well the answer is simple and happens to be one of the greatest perks about American Clay.

Cleaning American Clay
Keep in mind that that’s mud on your walls and generally, mud doesn’t need much cleaning! If it doesn’t show soiling, a barely-damp sponge wiped with light pressure will remove most soiling.

Being a natural clay, American Clay doesn’t react with the environment the same way acrylic, which helps to eliminate static charge on walls. In turn, the clay doesn’t hold dust or particles to its surface. By naturally resisting this charge build-up, it keeps itself clean quite well and little to no regular cleaning is necessary.

The clay also absorbs oils over time, so fingerprints disappear. No more gunk around light switches and door jams!

As for stains, people have had soda, water and even dog pee on their walls, and the clay plaster simply absorbs, dries and is done. You can’t see it, and if streaks show up, a barely-damp sponge will rearrange the surface material to blend any marks away. Then finish the area with a trowel or sponge—whatever was used to achieve the final surface—so your repair blends into the wall.

It’s really that easy. But do remember that this perk only comes with an unsealed application. Once sealed, American Clay loses its ability to repel dust and absorb stains.

To read more about the negative ion charge in American Clay, visit our Products page. Also, for more tips and tricks, check out our collection of Common Questions on our website.

We have added some new documents to be downloaded from the Product Application page of our web site:

• Overview of American Clay Products, Application Systems & Application Instructions
• Condensed Instructions for Traditional Application
• Condensed Instructions for Dos Manos Classic
• Substrates Preparation
• Troubleshooting Guide

These are in addition to Full Application Instructions (in English and Spanish), Dos Manos Systems with Mud Glue, and Product Information Movie which were available previously. We think these new instructions will help you understand American Clay products and applications even better, by putting information into a new format.

The Product Information Movie is a free download of the introductory portion of our American Clay DVD, a 65-minute application video which is for sale under “Shop“. Our Shopping page also offers 2-lb and 5-lb packages of pre-colored dry plaster, your choice of color and plaster; just add water and make your own sample boards or plaster a small area. There is a 5-lb Loma Base Coat with Mud Glue, the perfect first coat for your samples. Another way to experiment with our plaster is the “Try-it Kit”. Already-finished samples are available in 3″x6″ or 8″x8″ boards, while the Fan Deck shows all our standard and accent colors in all three plasters.

Don’t forget that the Common Questions has an extensive and growing list of answers! We want you to be successful using our plaster, so we have provided all the information we can. If there is something else you need to know, just phone or email us.

American Clay recently took part in plastering a traditional hogan on the Ramah Navajo Reservation in Pine Hill, NM.

Recently rewarded with a grant to build a straw bale hogan using locally harvested Ponderosa Pine, the project is an attempt to bring the Navajo elders and young children together in a traditional setting to exchange stories and Navajo culture. The Ramah Continuing Education Department, along with The Navajo Weavers Guild, plan to use the hogan as a meeting area and classroom, offering traditional classes in language, weaving and Navajo culture.

In traditional Navajo culture the hogan is the center of life. Inside, the design and layout of the space mimics their traditional religion. The door faces east to welcome the new day and the fireplace is located in the middle.

The straw bales were covered with a site-based clay plaster. This base clay plaster was not very smooth, but high spots to low spots did not vary more that 1/16″. By using the Enjarre-Quartzite product in the window wells, more natural light is pulled into the building with only one coat. The rest of the walls were finished with a blend of Loma and Marittimo.

In Navajo mythology, the “white shell” plays a pivotal role, acting as an instrument for creation in the story of White Shell Woman. Because of this intimate connection, the elders in the Weavers Guild wanted the shell-which is the sand in the Marittimo product-incorporated into the plaster. The Loma-Marittimo blend allowed us to incorporate the shell into the plaster and created an amazing finish. Easy to work with, we were able to do one coat of the blend over the base clay plaster.
Tim White
Product Development
American Clay Enterprises, LLC

Back in October ‘07, our Project of the Month featured the cliff-face inspired accent wall in one of the new, ultra-modern Museum Residences in Denver, CO.

Local designer John Ronnberg and Hall’s Walls‘ Deborah Hall developed an original technique in order to create subtle striations in the top coat of Sugar Loaf Porcelina, giving the 30′ x 22′ wall a look echoing that of a sheer rock face.

With residents all moved in, modern furnishings attractively juxtapose the wall’s visually delicate striations. Also complimented by the oppositely situated bay of full-wall windows, the American Clay application is provided with an ample amount of natural light, beautifully displaying its unique texture.

To read the October article, click here.

Deborah Hall from Hall’s Walls has written a clear and concise step-by-step guide for repairing American Clay. What at first glance looks to be a major blemish requiring a lengthy repair process, turns out to be a short and simple fix that any homeowner can painlessly pull off.

1. Determine whether the defect goes through to the basecoat, or the underlayment. Repairs that go through to the underlayment require Sanded Primer Elite, or Mud Glue/basecoat, or both prior to the addition of the finish coat material.

This photo shows a scrape through a finish coat of Loma/Porcelina blend to the base coat (shown here as blue Loma).

2. If the defect goes through the basecoat, when you begin the repair it is essential to place blue tape on the edges of the finish coat of clay so that no primer or basecoat material will be added onto the edge of the finish coat. This step prevents a build up of clay in a ring around the repair site.

3. In this case (repair needs basecoat), place basecoat material into the taped repair and smooth it off as best you can so that there is no material build-up around the inside edges of the repair site. It is essential that you do not continue with the repair until this new basecoat material is COMPLETELY DRY. It is possible to dry repairs with a heat gun or a hair dryer, with CARE.

4. After the basecoat is dry, remove the masking tape and moisten the existing clay with either a light spritz from a spray bottle or with a grout sponge. This helps the new clay adhere to the existing finish coat material.

5. Trowel new clay over top of the repair site. Don’t mess with it AT ALL at this time.

6. Allow the new material to dry COMPLETELY.

7. When the repair site is completely dry, use fine grit sanding paper, or a sanding block to get rid of unwanted extra material around the site and sculpt the clay to the effect you want.

8. Brush off the loose material and re-burnish, or finish with sponge and brush to match the surrounding area.

Note that this finish coat had one-half unit of Mud Glue in it, which changes the workability of the clay. It is still possible to bring about a good repair in clay that has Add-Mix or Mud Glue. Other surface additives, e.g. waxes and sealers, will necessitate sanding off some of the finish around the repair site to get to an area of bare clay. New clay needs to bind to bare clay, not sealed or waxed clay. Thus, sand off an area first, proceed as above, and then after the repair is done and burnished, let it dry and reapply the sealer or wax and blend.

Some smaller repairs, like scratches, can be repaired by refinishing, without adding new material, or by adding a small amount of clay. Any time new material is added, let it dry completely before working it.

Nail holes can be very simply repaired in this manner, as well as writing on walls.

Hall’s Walls is an American Clay distributor located in Colorado Springs, CO. Deborah Hall, PhD, has over 5 years experience working with American Clay. She is the owner and founder of Hall’s Walls.

All photos provided by Deborah Hall.

Our new 2 and 5 Pound Sample Packs are now available for purchase. The new sample packs were added to our line of products in response to applicators’ requests to be able to produce larger test boards as well as to test the clay directly on the wall. Best of all, they are easy to use. Our kits come premixed, ready to go—just add water!

Available in any color and any plaster, the kits provide a great introduction to American Clay products. Also available is a 5-Pound Base Coat Kit–uncolored Loma with Mud Glue–, that when used with a 2 or 5 Pound Sample Pack provide a proper 2-layer application.

As opposed to our Try-it Kits which produce 6×6 inch samples, our new sample packs can cover a much larger area. A Loma 2-Pound Sample Pack can cover around 8 square feet once or 4 square feet twice; A Loma 5-Pound Pack can cover 20 square feet once or 10 square feet twice.

In addition to being a helpful tool for learning how to apply American Clay, the Sample Packs are handy for accent areas or small areas that need repairs. However, do keep in mind our Color Policy if using Sample Packs for repairs! To read the policy, scroll to the bottom of our Destination Colors page.

Go to our Shop section of our website to order all kits.

American Clay stencils are now available! With over 15 different designs and a variety of sizes, choosing just one seems nearly impossible.

In addition to the assortment of stencil designs, is the array of application techniques. Check out our previous blog post on the topic here. Originality is in the bag with so many combinations of design, size and technique.

All of our stencils are made with an extra thick plastic, ensuring durability and the potential for repeated use.

Pictures and additional item information will soon be added to our website. Until then, feel free to give us a call for more details, 1-866-404-1634.

On our recent article, “Mud Glue to the Rescue”, we received some questions regarding clarification on a few terms and descriptions. Here is a rewritten description of that project that is more detailed and clear.

The client settled on a burnished Porcelina mixing two colors. After doing a sample wall to test the look before doing the whole house, the client voiced preference for one area where there was more texture, sort of resembling Loma–though she also wanted some very smooth, burnished areas. When we tried to leave texture in a Porcelina finish, it “dusted” because it wasn’t compressed enough. So then we thought, how about if we make a 50/50 mix of Loma and Porcelina? Perhaps we could have a little more texture and compress less and not get “dusting”. Then it occurred to me to add half a unit of Mud Glue, which would further cut down on the possibility of dusting after a light compression. Also, the other great thing about that particular composition (50/50 with one-half a unit of Mud Glue) is that you can compress it at “leatherhard”, which is much easier than letting the clay dry all the way and then compressing/burnishing it. So, what we ended up for a process is this:

1. Basecoat of Loma/Mud Glue as usual
2. Finish composition: 50% Loma, 50% Porcelina with one half unit of Mud Glue (Mud Glue by our measure is 3c, so one-half unit is 1.5c) and the pigment which was Nantucket Sand.
3. We applied the finish coat and pulled back across areas that were setting up as we went along, to create the structural look that we wanted. Then we tried to burnish at “leatherhard” (leatherhard is when the clay is no longer sticky to the touch, but still appears wet). This was easier and faster than letting the clay dry completely before burnishing, but we also did that, due to logistical considerations. In general, it takes much less water and also less effort to compress a finish coat that has Mud Glue added.