The Gay Head people make two types of product, namely unfired clay receptacles and fired ware. The craft is surviving because there is a fairly profitable tourist trade demanding a supply of souvenirs.

The peculiar varicolored clay banks provide raw material of unique merit. The individual clays—red, white, green, yellow, etc.—are dug, with shovels or sticks, and kept separately. The preparation of the paste and the building processes are the same whether the finished piece is fired or not. The clay is first allowed to dry, then broken up into fine particles and sifted through a household sieve to rid it of lumps. There are no megoscopically discernible inclusions in the clays, and the adding of temper is unknown. The mixing of the paste is done in an iron receptacle, usually with a wooden pounder, and invariably with the aid of a roughly whittled wooden spatula.