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don't dump, recycle

updated tue 3 jul 01

 

vince pitelka on sun 1 jul 01


> Terra sig leftovers would be fine in much higher quantities.

I really do admire David's entire approach to pottery and to life in
general, and I especially admire his intuition for reusing and recycling
everything possible. Regarding adding terra sig leftovers to a claybody, be
sure that you neutralize the deflocculant by adding 1/2 of 1% epsom salts
dissolved in hot water, and just remember that the terra sig leftovers are
going to do nothing for plasticity, because all you have left is the coarser
clay particles. As long as you have adequate ball clay and plastic
stoneware or earthenware clays in the body, the terra sig leftovers will
provide a nice filler.
Best wishes -
- Vince

Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Home - vpitelka@dtccom.net
615/597-5376
Work - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 ext. 111, fax 615/597-6803
http://www.craftcenter.tntech.edu/

David Hendley on sun 1 jul 01


I agree with Martin Howard that, unless you are doing something very
unusual in your pottery shop, any and all leftover scraps of materials
can be safely returned to the earth on your own property.
Clay is just clay, or earth, and our bodies need and use all the trace
elements
that we use as glaze colorants, which also came from the earth.
You aren't going to be dumping a lot of cobalt, at $30 a pound, are you?

Dumping things into the ground is, however, my last choice for dealing
with leftover materials. All my glaze test remnants, mistakes, and odds
and ends are recycled into my claybody. Two cupfuls of any glaze can
be added to a hundred pound batch of clay with absolutely no effect
on the clay. Even a tenmoku glaze added to porcelain will not be
noticeable.
The last time I said this, Joyce was skeptical, so we did the math. The
percentage of iron added to the clay is so small it is virtually zero.
Terra sig leftovers would be fine in much higher quantities.

To me, this is the best use of scrap materials, because you really are
recycling them, putting them to good use to make more pottery. These
are materials that have been mined, refined, and transported. Putting them
in the garden will return them to the earth, but re-using them in clay takes
advantage of the fact that they have been refined and puts them to a
higher use.

I no longer try to mix bits of glazes to make a 'scrap glaze'. These glazes
invariably end up a runny army green that you then try to adjust by
adding more materials, and finally throw out because all they do is ruin
otherwise good pots.

As for firing leftover glazes into a mass and them putting them in the
garbage, this is completely senseless ecologically. It wastes the energy of
the kiln to melt them, the energy of the truck to haul them away, and then
they take up space in a landfill.

Here in suburban Maydelle (that is a joke, I am really smack dab in the
middle of nowhere), I have to deal with ALL my trash. Very, very little
ends up in the local landfill. I usually have to take a pickup load once
every 5 years or so.
#1 and #2 plastic is recycled, other plastics are burned in the kiln when it
is good and hot (it's just oil, don't you know).
Jars and bottles are recycled by me, to make glass cullet for glaze
material,
or at the recycling center, taken with the plastic.
We don't have steel can recycling here, so cans are simply dumped in
the back 40, where they will disintegrate over the course of 5 or 6 years.
So, how about it Martin, have you thought of a way for me to recycle my
burned out light bulbs yet?

David Hendley
Maydelle, Texas
hendley@tyler.net
http://www.farmpots.com

Martin Howard on mon 2 jul 01


David Hendley has a very good method there.
I have too many buckets of glaze now. Haven't we all:-)
Some are overfull, so there is little scope for adding one to another in any
case.
But I could let those unused glazes almost dry out and add a handful each
time I pug. Thanks David. Great idea. One that has hardly any colourant in
it will go into the compost bins though. The result will be spread over an
acre of garden, so the density of any one colourant will be infinitesimal.
No chance of build up.

Re. light bulbs. No, I still haven't got the answer to that one;
Other than use candles instead made from the wax in your wax resist pan.
With the US energy policy in such turmoil, that might not be a bad idea
after all for the USA members on the list:-)

The burnable waste, which I cannot find another use for, is used to provide
the heat in a solid fuel boiler to melt the beeswax and oil in a covered
frying pan. Of course, during summer we do not need that on for long; just
when glazing, say once a week.

Even in the UK here, the result could always be poured into candle shaped
moulds ready for the power cuts next winter. Smells wonderful.

As vegetarians, we do not have any animal fats around for candle making.

Pottery does teach one to think logically and laterally!

Martin Howard
Webb's Cottage Pottery
Woolpits Road, Great Saling
BRAINTREE, Essex CM7 5DZ
England

martin@webbscottage.co.uk
http://www.webbscottage.co.uk