Steve Mills on thu 26 may 05
I have acquired and got rid of 3 Pugmills during my potting life. Unless
you are mixing clay each week they dry out, corrode, etc. and are a pain
to clean out when you want to change clay.
Now I dry off all my scraps, mix it in a bin with half a cup vinegar
(for rapid souring) and a lot of water and then pour it into *sock* made
from non-organic material (called Terylene over here) and let it almost
air dry then store it, kneading only as much as I need just before use.
It is easy, and simple, and the resulting mix is unbelievably plastic. I
have different *socks* for different clays, which don't take up any room
when not in use.
Pugmills mix clay, but they don't prepare it for throwing, they wreck it
(unless of course they are de-airing when it's only half wrecked). I
knead on a bench only high enough for me to use body weight not muscle
to prepare it. Doing it this way doesn't bother the Arthritis in my
wrists. BIG point!
Steve
Bath
UK
In message , Marcia Selsor writes
>Dear Hal,
>I have a big plaster vat I got from Archied Bray, Clay Business. I
>use it for all types of clay. AND I also like clay that has been
>slipped and recinstituted. I find it more plastic.
>I soak clay in 5 gallon buckets and then put two ot three in the vat.
>Let it set over night or for 2 days and it is done. Takes care of all
>those scraps.
>Very passive system.
>Marcia Selsor
>>
>>> Hello all.
>>>
>>> I currently recycle all my clay by hand as I don't have enough to
>>> justify
>>> the cost of a pugmill but enough to make doing it by hand a small
>>> chore.
>>> Do any of you that own pugmils ever recycle clay for other potters
>>> for a
>>> fee?
>>>
>>> SNIP
--
Steve Mills
Bath
UK
Kate Johnson on tue 31 may 05
>
> Now I dry off all my scraps, mix it in a bin with half a cup vinegar
> (for rapid souring) and a lot of water and then pour it into *sock* made
> from non-organic material (called Terylene over here) and let it almost
> air dry then store it, kneading only as much as I need just before use.
> It is easy, and simple, and the resulting mix is unbelievably plastic. I
> have different *socks* for different clays, which don't take up any room
> when not in use.
>
Steve, Phil, all...
I've read about this technique a couple of times on Clayart, recently and in
the past, and it sounds great for me...the arthritis in my hands makes
kneading and wedging a LITERAL pain. I plan to add vinegar to my slop
buckets and try this (and Phil's suggestion) to see if I can cut down on the
pain factor. Thanks!
What I often do instead, of course, is just try to use up all my scraps for
small things...jewelry, tiles, small three-dimensional wall scultures like
my greenmen, fairy/toad houses...the irony is that my scrap work sells
better than my "real" work. A potter's life is weird, innit?
Best--
Kate Johnson
graphicart@epsi.net
http://www.cathyjohnson.info/
Art, History, Nature and More at Cathy Johnson's Cafepress--
http://www.cafepress.com/cathy_johnson/
Graphics/Fine Arts Press--
http://www.epsi.net/graphic/
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