Norm Straker on thu 15 apr 99
Hey Folks,
When I reclaim clay I have to soak it in water then put it in a plaster
bat. I don't have a mixer or a pugmill.
I have been experimenting with my own mixes of porcelain and stoneware
and like to be able to fully hydrate the clay. Seems to be more plastic
quicker. If you don't account for the time it takes to dry on plaster.
Anyway I would like to know the best form of plaster bins or whatever
seems to work best for some of you for drying clay. I am planning to
just make more rectangular plaster bins if I don't come up with anything
better.
Thanks in advance, Norm! 8^o
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Joy Holdread on fri 16 apr 99
In a message dated 4/15/99 4:46:27 AM US Mountain Standard Time,
nlstraker@juno.com writes:
>
> Anyway I would like to know the best form of plaster bins or whatever
> seems to work best for some of you for drying clay. I am planning to
> just make more rectangular plaster bins if I don't come up with anything
> better.
>
I spread the wet clay on canvas. If it's soupy I bank up the edges against 2
by 4. I either lay in on plywood & drag it to dry wood a few times a day or
I lay the canvas out on my brick patio & dray it to dry spots a few times a
day. Usually I can fold clay in half at the end of the day & wedge the next
morning . It the weather is particularly dry I watch the edges & fold them
over into the wetter clay. I find the canvas easy to handle & my system
doesn't take up any more space than the rolled up canvas. I usually work
with 75 to 200 lb. at a time on 3-5 pieces of canvas.
Joy in Tucson
Mimi Stadler on fri 16 apr 99
Hi Norm-
I also dry out scrap thoroughly, slake it in water overnight, then
lay it on plaster & wedge it. My plaster is in the form of round bats made
in large aluminum pans, available in baking sections of stores. I have as
many bats out at a time as needed for the amount of slaked clay. The
advantage to these is the amount of clay on each is large enough to make a
platter, but not too big for someone with a tendency towards tendonitis to
wedge comfortably.
Mimi Stadler in NJ
Vince Pitelka on fri 16 apr 99
>When I reclaim clay I have to soak it in water then put it in a plaster
>bat. I don't have a mixer or a pugmill.
>I have been experimenting with my own mixes of porcelain and stoneware
>and like to be able to fully hydrate the clay. Seems to be more plastic
>quicker. If you don't account for the time it takes to dry on plaster.
>Anyway I would like to know the best form of plaster bins or whatever
>seems to work best for some of you for drying clay. I am planning to
>just make more rectangular plaster bins if I don't come up with anything
>better.
Norm -
In my own experience I have found the plaster bins or slabs to be very
cumbersome, and in order to stiffen the slop to workeable consistency in a
timely fashion they have to be completely dry before you use them. And of
course you also risk plaster contamination in your clay. When slaking down
clay in water, I like to put it in plenty of water, let it soak overnight,
skim off all the standing water on top, and then mix it up well with a
drill-mounted jiffy-mixer. Once that is done, the slurry is thick enough
that you can mound it up in rows on a plastic sheet on any level surface,
and it will stiffen up to useable consistency very quickly (dependent on the
humidity, of course).
Good luck -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka - vpitelka@DeKalb.net
Home 615/597-5376, work 615/597-6801, fax 615/597-6803
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
John Post on sun 18 apr 99
>When I reclaim clay I have to soak it in water then put it in a plaster
>bat. I don't have a mixer or a pugmill....Anyway I would like to know the
best >form of plaster bins or whatever
>seems to work best for some of you...
Norm,
I use the plaster bins that clayart's own mel used in his classroom. To
make one you get a large plastic bushel barrel and mix your plaster in it.
Then you place a 5 gallon bucket into the middle of the plaster. Put sand
into the bucket so that it sinks into the plaster displacing some of it. I
use mold soap on the bucket so it will pull out easily. What you end up
with is a large plaster bin that has a hole the size of a 5 gallon bucket
in the middle of it.
I just pour all of my wet slop into the one I made. As it dries the clay
will pull away from the walls. Then you can reach in and pull the clay out
as one big lump. The nice thing about the mel bucket is that it holds a
lot of really wet clay. The down side is that it's rather heavy. I have
mine on caster wheels so I can roll it out to fill and then roll it out of
the way when I'm done.
I like it better than bats because it holds so much clay at one time.
cheers,
John Post
Sterling Heights, Michigan
temmoku@actionwebs.net
Anne Hunt on mon 19 apr 99
John -- Your post is just what I've been looking for, so here's a picky,
picky question: since you've been so definitive @ your sizes, could you
pass on @ how much plaster is needed for the job?
THIA
anne & plaster cats in WA
John Rodgers on mon 3 may 99
-- [ From: John Rodgers * EMC.Ver #2.5.02 ] --
Norm, at our shop, we use retired jigger molds. Works great. I use to have a
plaster table that measured 30X36 inches long. Has 4 inches of plaster on
top. I would keep my scrap in a plastic bucket with about an inch of water
over the clay. When full I would beat it into a heavy slurry with a heavy
duty Jiffy mixer...you kno...the one with the blades on the sides and in the
little circles. Reallly cuts it up. Then I would spread it out on the
plaster table about 1 inch thick. Leaving it uncovered. In a few hours
enough water would draw from it that it could be turned over as a big slab.
After waiting a little longer, it could be rolled up, put into a bag and
stored untill it could be wedged.
If you want to make something like a jigger mold to hold your slurry,
especially if it is very wet, you might take a large stainless or plastic
mixing bowl and simply make a plaster mold off the back of the bowl. This
works well. Just turn the bowl over, apply a release agent...mold soap is
best...and using your hand and a spatula layer the plaster on the bowl. When
it sets, remove the bowl, and you have a plaster bowl in which you can put
your clay. This will actually be a bit easier than making square ones, I
think.
Good Luck.
John Rodgers
In New Mexico
-------- REPLY, Original message follows --------
Date: Thursday, 15-Apr-99 07:45 AM
From: Norm Straker \ Internet: (nlstraker@juno.com)
To: Clayart \ Internet: (clayart@lsv.uky.edu)
Subject: Plaster Bins
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Hey Folks,
When I reclaim clay I have to soak it in water then put it in a plaster bat.
I don't have a mixer or a pugmill.
I have been experimenting with my own mixes of porcelain and stoneware and
like to be able to fully hydrate the clay. Seems to be more plastic quicker
. If you don't account for the time it takes to dry on plaster.
Anyway I would like to know the best form of plaster bins or whatever seems
to work best for some of you for drying clay. I am planning to just make
more rectangular plaster bins if I don't come up with anything better.
Thanks in advance, Norm! 8^o
___________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get
completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call
Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
-------- REPLY, End of original message --------
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