Rhonda Kale on wed 31 aug 05
Scott-
I switched to Hardibacker board for several uses and several reasons.
ONE-we made a potload of 12, 10 and 8 inch bats out of one sheet of hardibacker and it is great. When you are done and after clay dries, it sort of pops off and leaves a cleaner surface. Whereas, on other surfaces, you have a bat which seems to get saturated or gummy, I don't have this problem with this stuff. I did not seal it or do anything to it. THe only thing I had to adjust was leaving the piece on it. It WILL suck the moisture out of the bottom faster than masonite or anything else. Which is a plus if your clay is just a mite too wet or gummy. But you just adjust.
SECOND- I used another sheet to make counter size boards which I can wedge or do handwork on. I cut one for RED clays, one for LIGHTcolored clays and one for BLACK/DARK clays. That was the one thing that drove me crazy in college-folks who made a mess of the canvas covered boards and left them for others to clean up-AAARRRGH. These hardibacker boards are very easy to clean up-stuff pops off or you can use a rib to sort of peel off. Then I slide them into to the crack between the wall and counter-easy to store on their sides.
THREE-I am an asthmatic. Dust is a BIG thing. Canvas covered boards after a while become a nightmare for me. I tried using just really smooth plywood but it didn't clean up as well as I wanted. These are much better and I do not have the "dust clouds" as before. It also helps keep the potters shed cleaner.
I think my hardibacker was 1/4 inch and I got it at Home Depot. The kind I used is smooth on both sides, which is also great-does double duty if needed.
Rhonda Kale
Potters Council Member
claysinger@earthlink.net
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