Thursday, January 14, 2010

finally found the time last night to get my hands dirty again. didn't actually make anything, but did wedge up a bunch of reclaim clay. what i wouldn't give for a pug mill. i really don't like wedging. my husband had the job for a little while, i showed him how to cut and slam, but i ended up w/ all these little clay bits all over the garage. even on some of my glazed work that was headed into the kiln. seemed he was making a game out of how hard he could slam the clay together and how far the little bits would fly. i'm still cleaning bits off of the foundation walls. wedging last night got me thinking about the best way to reclaim clay. i just rewedge the wet stuff, but when it dries out and goes into a bucket to slake, i'm trying to figure out the best way to dry it out enough to wedge. i tried the blue jean leg thing and that's just messy and a real pain. next i made a trough out of hardware cloth and lined w/ denim and dumped the clay in that. works fine, still have to deal w/ the dripping water. now i'm thinking of a big plaster slab or bowl, or doing smaller batches using a couple bisqued trays. can't make up my mind. i'm leaning toward smaller batches, not sure about how to dry it out though.

we've been talking about everything i want to do in my new studio set up. i'm on a mission to get rid of as much dust as i possibly can. i'm going to put a vent hood in there to use when i'm making glazes to catch the dust generated there, and mop/clean after every clay session.

i've very excited about my new studio. i want to come up w/ a different look to my pottery and the new studio feels like a new fresh start. i've got a few ideas i want to explore and can't wait to get to work on it. i have some orders i have to fill first though and i'm doing nothing else until i can get those done. just can't seem to find the time, kids kids kids. more on that later...

3 comments:

  1. Good morning Kim..
    I use some plaster bats to get wet clay dried enough to wedge. It does take time as you have to keep lifting and moving it around the bat for equal drying. And yes, for really wet clay a bowl shape would work well.
    You have good ideas about keeping the studio clean. :)
    I have not made it back to the studio yet after Christmas! I am trying to do some Spring cleaning of my house and will go visit my Mom for a few days next week.. two potter friends are coming over this afternoon, just to hang out/visit/talk pots with being in a rush like we were before Christmas..looking forward to that!
    Have a great day! cheers, T

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  2. you can even use a concrete slab...like your sidewalk. It works great...just make sure the area you will put your clay is clean (free of debris, rocks, etc) and pour your slake onto it. Usually for me (living in humid and hot, south louisiana)back when I recycled that way..now I have a clay mixer, it doesn't take long to getting it dry enough to wedge. Hope this works for you!

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  3. hi Terri! what a great idea! when i read your comment this morning i immediately added it on my list of stuff to do today. it's been so warm (40's lol) and sunny here the last couple weeks i thought it'd be a perfect day. until my husband said "look, it's snowing out there!" oh joy... i'm definitely goign to give that a try but guess it'll have to wait another day. :(

    shontashane - HUH??!??!?....

    off to do some throwing now...

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