Eleanora Eden on thu 22 apr 10
Hi Dennis,
In my work I have lots of such bits and pcs. They used to pile up and
I still have old boxes around that I am slowly incorporating into clay, or
using as "trash clay" if they are too dirty.
But nowadays I go a different route. If you also do thrown work, you
might find, as I have, that there are lots of uses for this stuff. I know =
it
doesn't hold up as well for throwing, but for lots of simple shapes that
don't demand lots of height or shaping, as in mugs for instance, this
clay, by itself or mixed with throwing clay, might throw fine.
So, instead of letting them pile up, I just plop the bits as they come into
a water container, and then dry a batch into wedging consistency and
put aside for use in the short term.
A note about "trash clay": if you are making castings then maybe, or
hopefully, you are also making molds. If you do any mold making, you
know it requires clay for this and that. For me, as I have made smaller
molds using fat slabs of clay to hold in the plaster, and use clay for the
positive models, I have a trash can of bags of clay with bits of plaster in
it or so on that I have put aside for not making into pots.
Just a few thoughts about recycling your slip casting cut-offs in an
easier fashion than making back into slip. I just would never bother to
do that.
Best, and hope this helps,
Eleanora
>I have a 30-40lb bag of dried slip cut-offs from casting, and would like
>to recycle it. Unfortunately, I cannot justify buying a hammer mill for
>this, but I'd be willing to pay a reasonable use fee to a kind soul who
>can help me with the task of crushing the pieces.
>Dennis
--
Bellows Falls Vermont
www.eleanoraeden.com
John Rodgers on thu 22 apr 10
Eleanor,
I recycle virtually all my trimmings and crashed slip cast greenware
pieces back into slip. Hoever - I may have it a bit easier than most
because about 5 years ago I bought myself a 33 gallon slip mixer. Boy!
Has that thing ever saved me. I throw all my dried or green scraps as
well as any leftover slip into the tank while the mixer is running and
it just chops it up and reduces it back to slip. I then do a density
check, and adjust the density by adding water or more dry slip - which
ever is needed, and then I check the viscosity by running it though a
viscosity cup. I set my slip density at 1.75 and if needed I add enough
sodium silicate to get a flow rate of 25 seconds using my particular
viscosity cup. For me - using C-5 B-mix - this works perfect. I don't
try to do any throwing with it, BUT - there have been times that I have
added some dry powder B-mix slip from the bag directly into my C-5 B-mix
throwing body trimmings, dried-out-in-the-bag B-mix clay, or clay simply
to stiff to work. I usually only add a bit when I have gotten the clay a
bit to wet while in the pub mill. I have never even noticed a difference
in throwing when I do this. This interchangeability between B-mix slip
and B-mix throwing body is one reason I have stuck with the clay for so
long. I have long since worked out most problems with it, and my glazes
work pretty well with the clay - whether slip or throwing body. I have
also found that the B-mix slip cast parts accept B-mix throwing clay
add-on's very well.
Related to this B-mix slip vs solid body - I use a plasticizer called
Goop to make some exordinary working solid clay body. Most throwing
clay, when rolled out very thin and then bent, will crack along the
radius of the bend. This is a problem for very fine work. But mix 1/3
goop and 2/3 slip clay, then spread on a plaster slab and allow the
plaster to draw out some water - and you wind up with a truly plastic
body for making leaves, flower petals, and intricate threads and strings
for weaving clay. It is amazing. I just roll it into a ball, wrap in
saran wrap, and store in a tightly sealed mayonnaise jar, refrigerated.
It will keep fairly well at room temp, but refrigeration extends the
life of the stuff. When you need it, just pinch off what you need and
store the rest. When this stuff dries - whether made into something or
just allowed to dry out - it cannot be reused. It hardens like a rock
and cannot be reclaimed.
The only source I know of for Goop is from Colorrific Porcelain in
Lynnwood, Wa. It comes in pints and gallons. Their web site is:
http://www.colorificporcelain.com/
John
John Rodgers
Clayartist and Moldmaker
88'GL VW Bus Driver
Chelsea, AL
Http://www.moldhaus.com
On 4/22/2010 10:23 AM, Eleanora Eden wrote:
> Hi Dennis,
>
> In my work I have lots of such bits and pcs. They used to pile up and
> I still have old boxes around that I am slowly incorporating into clay, o=
r
> using as "trash clay" if they are too dirty.
>
> But nowadays I go a different route. If you also do thrown work, you
> might find, as I have, that there are lots of uses for this stuff. I kno=
w it
> doesn't hold up as well for throwing, but for lots of simple shapes that
> don't demand lots of height or shaping, as in mugs for instance, this
> clay, by itself or mixed with throwing clay, might throw fine.
>
> So, instead of letting them pile up, I just plop the bits as they come in=
to
> a water container, and then dry a batch into wedging consistency and
> put aside for use in the short term.
>
> A note about "trash clay": if you are making castings then maybe, or
> hopefully, you are also making molds. If you do any mold making, you
> know it requires clay for this and that. For me, as I have made smaller
> molds using fat slabs of clay to hold in the plaster, and use clay for th=
e
> positive models, I have a trash can of bags of clay with bits of plaster =
in
> it or so on that I have put aside for not making into pots.
>
> Just a few thoughts about recycling your slip casting cut-offs in an
> easier fashion than making back into slip. I just would never bother to
> do that.
>
> Best, and hope this helps,
>
> Eleanora
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>> I have a 30-40lb bag of dried slip cut-offs from casting, and would like
>> to recycle it. Unfortunately, I cannot justify buying a hammer mill for
>> this, but I'd be willing to pay a reasonable use fee to a kind soul who
>> can help me with the task of crushing the pieces.
>> Dennis
>>
>
> --
> Bellows Falls Vermont
> www.eleanoraeden.com
>
>
>
Dennis Gerasimov on thu 22 apr 10
Thank you for your detailed reply, Eleanora. Unfortunately, I do not do
any throwing (I do not even own a wheel). I do make all my molds, and I
do use (and reuse) some amount of modeling clay, but it is minor. I make
most of my prototypes for molds from wood.
I make my own slip, so reusing cut-off in the next batch is a natural
choice for me, its just crushing all the stuff by hand with a rolling
pin got old on me. Its not worth for me to hand-crush 20lb of cut-offs
for 30-40 minutes, when the average cost of the material I am saving is
under $0.35/lb.
So, no small hammer mills in Baltimore, MD?
I guess I can try adding cut-offs as is as a fist ingredient, letting it
soak overnight and then using a drill full speed on it to break the
stuff up. I just hope it will not introduce the bubbles into the slip.
Dennis
Eleanora Eden wrote:
> Hi Dennis,
>
> In my work I have lots of such bits and pcs. They used to pile up and
> I still have old boxes around that I am slowly incorporating into clay, o=
r
> using as "trash clay" if they are too dirty.
>
> But nowadays I go a different route. If you also do thrown work, you
> might find, as I have, that there are lots of uses for this stuff. I kno=
w it
> doesn't hold up as well for throwing, but for lots of simple shapes that
> don't demand lots of height or shaping, as in mugs for instance, this
> clay, by itself or mixed with throwing clay, might throw fine.
>
> So, instead of letting them pile up, I just plop the bits as they come in=
to
> a water container, and then dry a batch into wedging consistency and
> put aside for use in the short term.
>
> A note about "trash clay": if you are making castings then maybe, or
> hopefully, you are also making molds. If you do any mold making, you
> know it requires clay for this and that. For me, as I have made smaller
> molds using fat slabs of clay to hold in the plaster, and use clay for th=
e
> positive models, I have a trash can of bags of clay with bits of plaster =
in
> it or so on that I have put aside for not making into pots.
>
> Just a few thoughts about recycling your slip casting cut-offs in an
> easier fashion than making back into slip. I just would never bother to
> do that.
>
> Best, and hope this helps,
>
> Eleanora
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>> I have a 30-40lb bag of dried slip cut-offs from casting, and would like
>> to recycle it. Unfortunately, I cannot justify buying a hammer mill for
>> this, but I'd be willing to pay a reasonable use fee to a kind soul who
>> can help me with the task of crushing the pieces.
>> Dennis
>>
>
>
> --
> Bellows Falls Vermont
> www.eleanoraeden.com
>
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