Clay Ochre

Clay

Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals. Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impurities, such as a reddish or brownish colour from small amounts of iron oxide.

Ochre

Ochre is a family of natural clay earth pigments, made up of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand, ranging in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. The term is also used for the colours produced by this pigment, especially a light brownish-yellow. A variant of ochre containing a large amount of hematite, or dehydrated iron oxide, has a reddish tint known as red ochre. The term "ochre" is colloquially used to cover a range of different substances used for their colours in Aboriginal Australian art and ceremonial decoration, for instance the clay known as "white ochre" or "pipe clay" is derived from kaolin or gypsum.

clay

Noun

1. A mineral substance made up of small crystals of silica and alumina, that is ductile when moist; the material of pre-fired ceramics.
2. An earth material with ductile qualities.

Verb

1. To add clay to or to spread clay onto.
2. To purify using clay.

ochre

Noun

1. A clay earth pigment containing silica, aluminum and ferric oxide.
2. A somewhat dark yellowish orange colour.

Adjective

1. Having a yellow-orange colour.
2. Referring to cultures that covered their dead with ochre.