Rod, Marian, and Holly Morris on thu 11 jan 01
I also have a sansaqua studio. I teach up to 6 students at a time, and do no
production work, so have maybe 25-50 pounds of clay in process at a time. I
have a washtub on a TV table for hand clean-up. I put a few drops of clorox
in each tubful for sanitation sake. I toss the water at the end of each day.
For clay clean up and recycling, I have a LARGE plastic pot on a caster
plant cart which rolls in and out from under a table. In this I keep slurry
water which I recycle into clay every 25-30 pounds or so. (This I do by
filling sewn up jeans legs with the slurry and waiting until the extra
water runs off and the clay firms up).
Glaze clean-up goes as follows: from brushes- a first rinse in a mason jar
which I call "icky water". Then the next rinse is in clean water- this I
pour down the drain, as the residual is negligible and I use no lead,
barium, or cadmium glazes. When the icky water gets too dirty, I pour it
into a large terra cotta plant saucer where it evaporates out quickly, and
when all have an inch or so of glaze slurry in the saucer, I dry it and fire
it. I also recycle or dry and fire any other glaze residuals such as inside
of buckets, etc.
The only real hassle is carrying in that 3-4 gallons of water a day. My
plans for a next step are to drill two holes in the outside wall, and run
garden hose in one and have a sink with a drain which will go out the other
one and on to the ground outside the studio. It will only be usable 8 months
out of the year. I doubt if I'll call the code inspector about this one, and
my husband says be sure to avoid hitting the electric conduit. I'll probably
follow his advice.
Marian in Michigan
---- Original Message -----
From: "Trees in the Wind Pottery"
To:
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2001 6:31 PM
Subject: studio sans running water
> Hello all,
>
> I am trying to work in a studio without indoor plumbing -- i.e., no
running
> water, no sink, no drain. I can carry in limited quantities of water
without
> too much of a problem. I'm wondering, though, what other people in this
> situation do for clean up, and for safe disposal of water that may contain
> glaze chemicals. I'd also welcome any other tips on working without
running
> water that you might be willing to offer. I do have heat and electricity.
> Thanks,
>
> Judith
> Trees in the Wind Pottery
>
>
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__
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Marianne Lombardo on thu 11 jan 01
Judith,
I also do my pottery in an area with no sink or drain. Not that they don't
exist, but they drain into a sewage pump that has a habit of getting clogged
up, and then into my septic tank. Clay is bad for both. I use a series of
3 buckets to dump dirty water into and wash up with. Then I carry the
buckets outdoors to a spot on my property to dump, where hopefully it is far
enough away from neighbouring wells. It's an awful nuisance, especially in
the winter, but environmentally I don't think it's any worse than the local
pottery school in the city where students pour everything down the drain
into the public sewage system.
Marianne Lombardo
Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
email: mlombardo@nexicom.net
> I am trying to work in a studio without indoor plumbing -- i.e., no
running
> water, no sink, no drain. I can carry in limited quantities of water
without
> too much of a problem. I'm wondering, though, what other people in this
> situation do for clean up, and for safe disposal of water that may contain
> glaze chemicals. I'd also welcome any other tips on working without
running
> water that you might be willing to offer. I do have heat and electricity.
> Thanks,
>
BARNSCHWA@AOL.COM on thu 11 jan 01
Judith,
My studio does not have running water, but is heated. I live in the
Northeast so we have cold winters. Instead of trying to carry water out in
three feet of snow I found a 50 gallon black plastic olive barrel which I
fill up (using a hose run from the house) with water in the fall. I dip into
this container to get fresh water as needed. I keep smaller buckets (old
spackle buckets) filled with water. I rinse out containers and such in
these. One for glazes, one for clay. When the glaze-rinse water bucket has a
lot of glaze sediment at the bottom I skim off the top water and pour the
glaze sediment into another container and let it dry before disposing of the
glaze materials.
Marion
Denver, NY
Jethro Allen on thu 11 jan 01
My first pottery didn't have running water either. The only heat it had was
a pot belly coal burner. I remember having to stay up well into the night
keeping that fire lit so my pots wouldn't freeze in the cold winters of
utah (at least I had a radio to keep me company). *sigh*grin* What a good
time. Enough romancing and down to the question at hand, you need water. A
major building block in nature and in our art.
First I got two 55 gal water barrels from a local feed store (water because
you may drink out of this and we don't want you to poison yourself now do
we).
Two valves ( for water flow control)
A length of hose (you'll have to determine the length).
Culinary (again you may drink out of this) JB Weld.
A drill.
finally some scrap wood and fasteners.
Build a two step bench (remember 55 gal of water weighs 440 lbs about so
build it strong) with the lower step being 25" tall. The second being 10"
taller. Next, place one barrel on top of the upper step. Drill a hole in
the bottom and attach one of the valves with the JB Weld (It seals well and
conforms to almost any shape). Then cut the other barrel in half to a height
of 10". Place it on the lower step and drill another hole in the bottom of
it. Attach the other valve and length of hose to that hole with the JB
Weld. Run the hose out a door and presto you have a gravity feed sink
complete with drain. As for the chemicals I never worried about it because
I recycled everything and the waste glaze drippings got mixed up into clay
or more glaze.
Hope this helps.
Ned
Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo.
- H. G. Wells
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Marcia Selsor on thu 11 jan 01
Dear Judith,
I had someone suggest to me to use a camper water storage container and
fill it with a hose. But the you need to avaoid freezing. To dispose of
chemicals you can make a trap ala Jonathon Kaplan's plan he advertised a
few months ago. It is pretty simple to build. When it is full you could
make a "slop " glaze out of whatever is in the trap. If it is ugly, you
could fire it into a solid lump and dispose of it that way.
Marcia
Trees in the Wind Pottery wrote:
>
> Hello all,
>
> I am trying to work in a studio without indoor plumbing -- i.e., no running
> water, no sink, no drain. I can carry in limited quantities of water without
> too much of a problem. I'm wondering, though, what other people in this
> situation do for clean up, and for safe disposal of water that may contain
> glaze chemicals. I'd also welcome any other tips on working without running
> water that you might be willing to offer. I do have heat and electricity.
> Thanks,
>
> Judith
> Trees in the Wind Pottery
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
--
Marcia Selsor
selsor@imt.net
http://www.imt.net/~mjbmls
http://www.imt.net/~mjbmls/Tuscany2001.html
Cindy Strnad on thu 11 jan 01
Hi, Judith.
You don't really need running water in a studio--well, not for making
pottery anyway. You say you can carry in limited amounts for clean-up.
That's all you need. Limited amounts. Naturally, it's handier to have a
spigot, but it's no big deal if you don't.
I'm not sure what kind of chemicals you're working with, but there aren't a
lot of things in my studio that would be toxic to the ground. Silica, clay
dust, that sort of thing. Bad for your lungs, but it's what the earth is
made of. As for the more esoteric glaze ingredients, well, they're too
expensive to be spilling them around on the floors.
I can't see where you'll have a problem at all. Nothing is likely to come up
that you won't be able to deal with.
Cindy Strnad
Earthen Vessels Pottery
RR 1, Box 51
Custer, SD 57730
USA
earthenv@gwtc.net
http://www.earthenvesselssd.com
vince pitelka on thu 11 jan 01
> I am trying to work in a studio without indoor plumbing -- i.e., no
running
> water, no sink, no drain. I can carry in limited quantities of water
without
> too much of a problem. I'm wondering, though, what other people in this
> situation do for clean up, and for safe disposal of water that may contain
> glaze chemicals. I'd also welcome any other tips on working without
running
> water that you might be willing to offer. I do have heat and electricity.
Judith -
I posted about this several years ago. For three years I taught at North
Dakota State University in Fargo, in a studio with no running water except
down the hall about 100 feet in the janitor's closet. We bought two very
heavy-duty 30-gallon "Tuffy" trash barrels on heavy-duty five-wheel dollies.
We would roll one down the hall to the janitor's sink and fill it and bring
it back to the studio. Students who were throwing would get water from the
barrel, and when they were done throwing they would pour off the water back
into the barrel, and pour the thicker slurry into five-gallon buckets.
Everyone would wash their hands and tools in the same bucket. Students
quickly got used to it and there were no complaints and no problems. We
could generally use the same barrel for a few days before it became to
"thick." At that point we would roll it off in the corner to let it settle,
and fill the other barrel and use it. By the time that one was too thick,
the first one would have settled, allowing us to decant off the water and
pour it down the drain. We scraped out the slurry into recycle buckets. We
definitely had an efficient recycle system!
For glazes I would just use a 5-gallon bucket and do the same thing
initially. But when you are done rinsing off all your tools, brushes, and
containers, let the materials settle very thoroughly in the bucket for a few
days, and then pour the water down the drain. Scrape the glaze material
residue into a bisque bowl, fire it, and toss it in the trash. That seems
to be the most responsible thing to do with glaze scrap.
Best wishes -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Home - vpitelka@dekalb.net
615/597-5376
Work - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 ext. 111, fax 615/597-6803
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
http://www.craftcenter.tntech.edu/
Trees in the Wind Pottery on thu 11 jan 01
Hello all,
I am trying to work in a studio without indoor plumbing -- i.e., no running
water, no sink, no drain. I can carry in limited quantities of water without
too much of a problem. I'm wondering, though, what other people in this
situation do for clean up, and for safe disposal of water that may contain
glaze chemicals. I'd also welcome any other tips on working without running
water that you might be willing to offer. I do have heat and electricity.
Thanks,
Judith
Trees in the Wind Pottery
Jim Bozeman on fri 12 jan 01
Hi Judith, My studio has no running water either. When I bought my house I walled in the garage which became my studio. It's small but I have to live with it. I carry in water from my kitchen. Works for me. Jim Bozeman
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Autumn Downey on fri 12 jan 01
I do much the same as other people have suggested - Recycle clay water and
eventually throw it out.
I settle out the glaze water. To speed this up a little trisodim phosphate
seems to work well. So far, I've always bisqued the dry glaze sludge, as
sometimes there's enough of it that I've been afraid of it cracking a bowl
and leaking out if it was glaze fired. What do other people do temperature
wise?
Autumn Downey,
Yellowknife, NWT
L. P. Skeen on fri 12 jan 01
Ned,
I was following you just fine until you said:
" Then cut the other barrel in half to a height of 10"."
Are we cutting the barrel down until it's just 10" deep? If so, why not
just get one of those big plastic tubs instead of a second barrel? What
kind of valves are we buying?
Thanks.
L (who may be in this situation if her studio ever gets built, unless she
wants to drill another well....)
Chris Schafale on fri 12 jan 01
One idea that I haven't seen mentioned yet is to have separate
rinse buckets for different glaze colors. I have one for
clear/white/cream, one for blue, and one for brown/black.
Periodically I let them settle, decant the clear water, and put the
solids in separate buckets to become future mystery glazes. Of
course, this works for me mostly because I don't use that many
different glazes or colors, don't use any materials that I wouldn't
want in a food-safe glaze, and don't do a huge volume of work.
Still, it beats dumping cobalt in the landfill or making one very ugly
studio glaze.
Chris
Light One Candle Pottery
Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, USA
(south of Raleigh)
candle@intrex.net
http://www.lightonecandle.com
Michael McDowell on fri 12 jan 01
Judith wrote from Trees in the Wind Pottery to ask about ways to work without
running water. In the 25 years or so that I've had my own studio, I've never
had running water or a sink. You get used to it. I can't think what I would
use it for now if I had it. Well, I guess less distance to walk with full
buckets of water.
The solution to your problem is lots of the ubiquitous 5 gallon plastic
buckets. Use one just to take clean water from, and that serves as your "tap".
I use another for "clay water" that I use on the wheel, and for general
cleanup. It may take you a while to get used to cleaning up in a bucket
instead of a sink, but it's a lot easier on your drains. Then I use another
for "glaze water". This is just for glaze cleanup, and to set my stirrers in
between uses. Whenever the solids build up to a point that is a problem in
clay or glaze water buckets I let them set overnight, pour off the relatively
clean liquid into yet another bucket and then scrape the remaining slurry into
still other buckets to dry. I just let these last buckets fill up and dry out
till the sludge is fully solid. Then I put it out with the trash.
I've found that in the winter, I don't like making the trek out to haul water
from the house. My solution for that has been to find several great heavy
plastic 5 gallon bottles from the "free bin" at my local Community Food Co-Op.
I think they get bulk soy sauce in these bottles. They are square so they pack
in nicely, and I've even found a tap fitting on one of them, so now I have one
bottle set up on my work table with the tap attached. Cool. When that one
empties out I just switch the tap to another. I must have eight of these
bottles now, and a side benefit is that as long as I keep them full, I have a
40 gallon emergency water supply on hand at all times. Hope this gives you
some ideas...
Michael McDowell
Whatcom County, WA USA
mmpots@memes.com
http://www2.memes.com/mmpots
John Hesselberth on fri 12 jan 01
Autumn Downey wrote:
> So far, I've always bisqued the dry glaze sludge, as
>sometimes there's enough of it that I've been afraid of it cracking a bowl
>and leaking out if it was glaze fired. What do other people do temperature
>wise?
Hi Autumn,
I have been creeping up on this problem of glaze disposal too. Since I
do a lot of testing, the extra glaze slop does accumulate. I recently
fired a 12" diameter shallow bowl full ( a depth of maybe 2-3 inches of
dried glaze) to cone 5. The bowl did crack, but it did so after the
glaze had set up enough that it didn't run out. I am screwing up my
courage to dispose of all my extra glaze this way but, like you, I really
don't want to have a container break and ooze glaze all over my kiln.
Does anybody do this regularly enough to have established a reliable way
to do it?
Regards, John
"The life so short, the craft so long to learn." Hippocrates, 5th cent.
B.C.
Carrie or Peter Jacobson on sat 13 jan 01
A woman whose lifelong dream was to open a little coffee shack did so last
summer in a town nearby. She devised a good sink system for her little
drive-up shop.
She mounted a very large container on the wall outside her coffee shack, and
ran piping from it to regular faucets inside the shop. Granted, there is no
hot water, and I am sure it is problematic in the winter (the shop is in
Paris, Maine ... I am hearing, in my noisy head, "Winter in Paris" to the
tune of "April in Paris")... but at any rate, she can fill the container up
from the outside with a hose, and there is pressure from the gravity feed.
She uses bottled water to make her coffee, not hose water. Never fear.
I am not sure what she does with the outflow. There is no skating rink
behind her place this winter, so I am pretty sure she doesn't just let it
out onto the ground. Some folks do, around here.
Best,
Carrie Jacobson
Bolster's Mills, Maine
Joyce Lee on sat 13 jan 01
ok
Carrie or Peter Jacobson wrote:
>
> A woman whose lifelong dream was to open a little coffee shack did so last
> summer in a town nearby. She devised a good sink system for her little
> drive-up shop.
>
> She mounted a very large container on the wall outside her coffee shack, and
> ran piping from it to regular faucets inside the shop. Granted, there is no
> hot water, and I am sure it is problematic in the winter (the shop is in
> Paris, Maine ... I am hearing, in my noisy head, "Winter in Paris" to the
> tune of "April in Paris")... but at any rate, she can fill the container up
> from the outside with a hose, and there is pressure from the gravity feed.
> She uses bottled water to make her coffee, not hose water. Never fear.
>
> I am not sure what she does with the outflow. There is no skating rink
> behind her place this winter, so I am pretty sure she doesn't just let it
> out onto the ground. Some folks do, around here.
>
> Best,
>
> Carrie Jacobson
> Bolster's Mills, Maine
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
Steve Mills on sat 13 jan 01
In message , Trees in the Wind Pottery writes
>Hello all,
>
>I am trying to work in a studio without indoor plumbing -- i.e., no runni=
>ng
>water, no sink, no drain. I can carry in limited quantities of water with=
>out
>too much of a problem. I'm wondering, though, what other people in this
>situation do for clean up, and for safe disposal of water that may contai=
>n
>glaze chemicals. I'd also welcome any other tips on working without runni=
>ng
>water that you might be willing to offer. I do have heat and electricity.
>Thanks,
>
>Judith
>Trees in the Wind Pottery
I collect water from the roof in a very large barrel, Lumps of charcoal
keep it sweet. I use a settling tank and a drain for disposal, others
not on clay like I am dig large soak-a-ways, usually gravel filled.
--
Steve Mills
Bath
UK
Jethro Allen on sun 14 jan 01
There we go getting all fancy and stuff! *grin*shrug*. Sorry I couldn't
help it. It just slipped out.
Yes, you could use a plastic tub however I like a big sink and lots of
water. To wash out throwing rags, bats and coveralls. Also I use the
barrel halfs to grow tomatoes so I had several barrels sitting around. Your
suggestion would be more economical.
I used two ball type valves. Where the valve is a ball with a hole drilled
in it encased in a pipe(just ask the local ace hardware guy he'll know).
They're stronger and seem to seal better. Nothing is more frustrating than
finding your shop flooded with 55 gallons of water because of a leaky valve.
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