Tommy Humphries on tue 17 jul 01
Wow, just had a big meeeeee mo reeeeeeee about smelly clay,
Way back in 85, I was workin using some of that fine hi fire Georgia red,
from craven's pottery, great throwing smooth clay light orange at ^6... well
anyways we were just cutting the pugs into weights straight from the bag, I
think 10# or so that day churns or coolers, i don't remember. well I had
several folks watchin me throw and when I went to center up that one ball,
they all (and me too) just went PEEEEEE- EWWWWW... There was a distinct
grayness to that particular lump of clay... As I potted along I started
finding small sticks in the clay and picking them out I laid them on the
wheel beside me. Then I pulled out one particularly funny shaped stick and
washed it off in my water bowl and it was a bone. YUP... seems that there
was a most nearly complete rat skeleton in that lump of clay...never found
the skull though, only the lower jaw, with teeth intact. finished the pot
out into a vase... imbedded the bones back into the surface and fired that
sucker... Probably still sitting around the back room of Ellis Pottery
somewhere...
Tommy Humphries
----- Original Message -----
From: "mel jacobson"
mel jacobson on tue 17 jul 01
it makes me smile to think of the thousands of
snot nosed, have every allergy known to man,
teen aged suburban kids that i taught for 35 years.
not one ever had, complained of, or thought of a
mold allergy from clay. and if there would have been
one, i would have heard about it. parents lined up at
the pottery door...doctors notes in hand.
they got smart as they turned
into late juniors and seniors. that smelly, old, bagged up,
sorta black laced clay was magic. new clay from the factory
was short and did not throw nearly as well.
we added a cup of vinegar and ammonia mix to each load of
clay scrap in a five gallon bucket. add water. we had dozens of
those pails around the perimeter of the room. empty them into
a plaster batt, then to the pug mill...kids would have scuffles over
that clay.
pug mills.
i do believe that a pug mill is a must for a potter. a small one
for the small studio, big one for the big studio...mongo one
for schools. the soldner mixer is wonderful..worth its weight in
gold. my old walker is and was a work horse...saved my bacon
as a teacher...always enough clay, no matter how many kids showed
up. for a potter, using up your scrap is not only sensible, but
you get a better clay body. if you hate your claybody, make your
own....make it pay for you.
tom wirt could do that, pay a kid to make clay...he just does
not believe he has to. it is a big point with him. the clay company
should be able to make a clay that reaches a standard. i agree.
secrets or not, we should know what is in the bag, and we should
not be having pop outs because the clay company saved 30 cents a
bag for crap grog.
story:
had a classmate at the university...painting major. she always
painted on paper. never good canvas. she was a very good
potential painter.
one day i asked her, `how come you work on paper?`
`oh, canvas is so expensive, such an investment`.....she had
a diamond ring as big as coconut, her rebooks where 120 bucks.
her suv was 40,000 bucks....so i said.
`why don't you sell your shoes and diamond, and get some
good materials? painting is your life right now, it is your degree.
she did not get it...she was offended. dumb ass.
tools for your studio are your life blood. get good tools.
make good pots and sell them to cover costs.
kiln first.
wheel second
pug mill third.
mel
if you fear your profession, if you fear your materials, well
change the profession, or figure it out. a little bit of clay mold
is an afro de z ack.
makes me crazy with desire.
pots, my tools move.
From:
Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
web site: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
vince pitelka on thu 19 jul 01
I'm with Mel on this one. I cannot believe that the normal mold growth in
clay is any problem at all, unless one is hypersensitive to particular
molds, and I think that is a very rare thing. You do not want to put
anything in clay which will retard the growth of organic life, because it is
the organic life which ages the clay and makes it more plastic over time.
That's why lots of old potters make a big supply of clay and age it for a
year before using it. Some East Asian potters used to make clay and age it
for much longer.
Vinegar is not a problem. It will not retard organic growth in clay because
it actually evaporates very quickly. Initially it does neutralize any
residual alkalinity which might otherwise deflocculate the clay, but then it
goes away, so why not use epsom salts instead, since they do not evaporate?
1/2 of 1% of the dry materials weight is an appropriate epsom salt addition.
If you are trying to improve a recalcitrant moist clay, just mix a saturated
epsom salt solution, place it in a squirt bottle, and wedge a little into
the clay. If a clay is "short" because of slight alkalinity, a squirt of
the epsom salt solution will have miraculous effect.
This mold scare thing fits into a broad range of over-reactions which
periodically circulate on Clayart. This is not a concern at all. If you
are going to worry about mold growing in the clay, then you should worry
equally about mold growing on every material and surface in your
surroundings indoors and out, and you might as well seal yourself in a
plastic bubble.
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/
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