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This week's color turned out to be pretty interesting - I hope you all enjoy it. I get requests, on occasion, for more earthy brown options than are offered as part of our standard color line. On my computer screen, this appears a bit more red than it really looks in person. It is definitely earthier, and more of a brown-red. To achieve this color, combine one color pack of Socorro Clay and a color pack of Chimayo together with one 50-lb bag of Loma, Porcelina or Marittimo.

This color is comparable in depth to Palomino Valley and Bryce Canyon, which are part of our Natural Depths line (translation = they require significantly more pigment than some of our other colors). Interestingly, Copper Brown requires much less pigment than either of those. This could mean that you could easily achieve a greater depth of color than with Palomino or Bryce. Both colors hover around the maximum amount of pigment you can add to a batch of clay before you'd expect to start experiencing issues with the integrity of your American Clay plaster. That's not the case with Copper Brown.

From left to right: Palomino Valley, Bryce Canyon, and Copper Brown (1 Socorro Clay, 1 Chimayo)

The maximum amount of this Copper Brown pigment you could add to a batch of clay is double the recipe mentioned above, so 2 color packs of Socorro Clay and 2 color packs of Chimayo.

To give you a better sense of what today's Color of the Week really looks like, it's very close in appearance to Benjamin Moore's 1161 Birchwood (you can see Birchwood if you scroll down a bit to the middle of the page. The colors around it will give you a sense of its tone in relation to others).

Feel free to contact me with questions about this color (or any others, for that matter). I'm happy to help. :-)

This week's color is one of my favorites - a deep, rich gray. To mix it, I used the equivalent of 7 color packs of Wild Horse Smoke per 50-lb bag of Loma, Porcelina, or Marittimo. Because Wild Horse Smoke is such a small color pack, you can add a lot of pigment before the clay plaster becomes saturated. If you opt to try to use this color, touch base with me first to check the price of a custom color pack. It may be more affordable than buying 7 individual color packs of Wild Horse Smoke. Applicator, Patrick Allard, saw this and said we oughtta call it "Holy Smokes"! Very funny...

I used my new Benjamin Moore Spectrophotometer to tell me which paint color is closest to the tile above, and it is a dead ringer for Benjamin Moore's Ashland Slate 1608.

Have a standard American Clay color you'd like to see featured on this blog? I can strengthen, weaken, or combine any of our colors at your request. Just let me know...

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Hiking in Jemez Springs - Photo Credit: Garrett Allen

I celebrated my 33rd birthday this week. Birthdays have a tendency to make me quiet and reflective as I look back at the year's events. It's been a huge year. I relocated to Albuquerque from the East Coast to work with American Clay. I've battled (and beaten!) some health problems for the first time in my (largely healthy) life. I have done quite a bit of traveling and exploration. I've made a lot of friends in my new home, and have an active social life.

This year feels very different from several in my recent memory. A year ago, two years ago, four years ago (you get the idea), I was a workaholic. That's not atypical of a young professional living in a busy, urban area. My Type A personality lends itself easily to working all the time, and my helpfulness often results in me spreading myself thin for causes I believe in. It's a common question when I meet someone new here in the desert, "So, how do you like living in Albuquerque?" This question inevitably garners a chuckle before I respond - I feel like a completely different person living here, almost as if I was plucked out of the DC Metro area by a witness relocation program and placed somewhere with strict instructions to leave behind everything I knew, including my workaholic tendencies.

I talk with many of you on the phone, and I've noticed some familiar patterns. There are those who accept work with almost every client who approaches them, largely because their business needs the money and they feel nervous to turn it down. Some of you work whenever you can, which translates into 7 days a week for months (and in some cases, years!) on end. There's very little free time, no vacations, stress, weariness...I recognize it well. Some folks manage it better than others. I just remember how exhausted I felt almost all the time, so I can't help but wonder how all of you are faring under the conditions of the current economy.

My friends, Phil and Jennifer, visited this week on their way across the country for vacation, and they observed that I look happier than they've ever seen me. This is the first time in my life that I've opted not to work a ton of overtime, not to take on additional part-time work, and not to volunteer myself too much. It still feels foreign and nerve-wracking, as if I'm endangering my welfare by choosing to enjoy my free time. As someone who has been laid off from work more than once, I have anxiety about the possibility that I may, once again, be put in a situation where I'm unable to take financial care of myself.

I can comfortably report, though, that over the course of reflection this birthday week, I think I may be living one of the best years of my life. The risky feeling of truly being "off" when I'm not working, and making that free time a priority, has resulted in greater richness than I've ever experienced. My time off work, it seems, has served to help me enjoy my time at American Clay much more. I've always recognized the importance of work life balance, but I think I've finally learned how to put it into practice. I'm still adjusting to this change, but overall, this has worked wonders for my physical, spiritual, and emotional health.

I would love to hear what makes a well-rounded life for our clients. How do all of you detach from work? What's your favorite way to spend free time? If you don't have much of it, how can you create more?

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A local friend of ours recently sent a false inquiry as a joke, and it's become today's office entertainment.

The inquiry:

What the heck is this this stuff. Can I apply it to my shower? Can I use it outside? What colors are there? I can not find them on the website. Does it only come in brown?

From:

Yacky Lane Plaster

Daffy Duck

Crazyville Nuttyville, NC 00126

And this was Jacquie's response:

Dear Daffy,

You would be amazed just where you can apply Amwerican Cway. When installed in the shower, you actually create a soothing mud bath. Your skin will feel so soft! When you're done with the mud soak, just let it dry and store it in a bucket for the next time you're "in the mood". In the pool, well you have just made yourself the neighborhood party spot! Not only a giant mud bath that you can share but also a mud volleyball pit! You will be the envy of all!!! Please note that you should cover your mud pit when not in use, animals love this stuff (if you get my drift). Colors? Well they are limitless, I would recommend staying away from the yellows...not very many people look good in yellow, (think jaundice)! The blues would be more soothing for this application. Please do not hesitate to contact us for any further information and thank you for taking the time to contact Amwerican Cway.

Sincerely,

Jacquie DA-vis

Sales Department

Amwerican Cway