Milton Markey on mon 5 oct 98
Phil,
I'd tell your partner to be careful when she makes her slips in your bathtub.
The chemicals and minerals that one typically uses to make slips, and color
them, can be dangerous to human skin! This is why gloves (and sometimes
breathing masks) are worn when one mixes the ingredients.
Suggest to her that she use a basin or plastic pail to make slips in, not the
tub or sink.
I further recommend that slip materials not be allowed to spill or rinse down
your drains. Some of the materials can not only clog the pipes, but due to
their caustic nature, they could harm the pipes themselves (this occurred in a
community studio I once was a member of). If your partner lays plastic or some
other kind of protection in the tub or sink, she can dispose of spills and
unwanted slip by letting it dry first, then throwing the dried slip in the
trash. A more ecologically correct method is to save the dried substances, and
mix them in with the next batch of slip.
One other thing: some cities (In the USA) have cracked down on pollutants
being introduced into the public drain system. I know of a potter who was
fined after the "drain police" discovered that the excess chromium and barium
and other minerals found in the neighborhood sewers, was coming from his
studio, which was in back of his house.
Perhaps your partner can find a ceramic studio to share with another potter in
the near future. If there are any communal studios near York, or other potters
in your town with large enough studios, perhaps an arrangement can be worked
out. This would certainly would curtail the dust, and eliminate your plumbing
bills for your apartment.
Milton MiltonsLin@AOL.COM
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