Donald P. Chitwood/Jane Peterson on thu 30 may 96
Help please. I am a low production (compared to many) potter. I have a
bad wrist so I try to eliminate wedging where possible. I am very frugile
with scraps, making smaller and smaller things from a slab, but when I
throw...
So now I have about 22 gal of heavy slip that I need to recycle in to
useable clay. Without a mixer or pugmill, and minimizing wedging. The
clay is a cone five porcelanous clay. Any helpful suggestions out there?
I'm stumped and I don't dare add another bucket of slip to my bulging scrap
tub.
Thanks.
Jane Peterson
bones@teleport.com
ELCAB@delphi.com on fri 31 may 96
If you have a concrete floor, pile newspapers so as to form an
absorbant pad..Lay a piece of cloth over the papers and pour
the slip onto it..Depending on the fliudity of the slip,but
stop before it flows off the cloth..after a couple of
hours,pull the cloth with the clay off the newspaper...change
the wet ones for new dry ones, pulll the cloth across and in a
day you should have workable clay.
Method 2...take a sturdy cloth tie the corners so as to form a
hammock hang up somewhere where the dripping water doesn't
matter and pour your slip intoi this hanginmg hammock like
bag...This is the way people used to make jelly and it works
very well altho slower than the newspaper on the floor
method.HOWEVER either way you'll have to wedge some once it
reaches the degreee of plasticity you want..
Method 3 get a new bucket and let this one dry out enough so
that you can
give it away to local children...clay is the cheapest part of
any potting operation and it will save your wrists...Elca
Branman elcab@delphi.com
Marvin Bartel on fri 31 may 96
At 04:59 PM 5/30/96 EDT, Jane Peterson wrote:
>I have a bad wrist so I try to eliminate wedging where possible. I am very
frugile
>with scraps, making smaller and smaller things from a slab, but when I
>throw... So now I have about 22 gal of heavy slip that I need to recycle
in to
>useable clay. Without a mixer or pugmill, and minimizing wedging. The
>clay is a cone five porcelanous clay. Any helpful suggestions out there?
>I'm stumped and I don't dare add another bucket of slip to my bulging scrap
>tub.
Jane,
I often pile thick slip on dry paster and place another plaster
piece on top to draw out the moisture. This draws out he water and gets it
plastic fairly fast. If I do this every day, it really cuts down on the
amount of clay to recycle.
It is slower, but you can also spread the slip several inches thick
on a clean concrete floor or on heavy cloth. A simple wood frame can
contain it if it isn't thick enough to stay put. If space is limited, do
only a few gallons at a time. Smooth the surface to avoid getting dry
pieces. A fan is optional. In several days or a week it will be ready to
wedge. Much of the mixing can be done with the feet in order to save the
wrists.
++++++++++++++
Marvin Bartel, Art Dept
Goshen College, Goshen, IN 46526
marvinpb@goshen.edu
http://www.goshen.edu
++++++++++++++
Donald Goldsobel on fri 31 may 96
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Help please. I am a low production (compared to many) potter. I have a
>bad wrist so I try to eliminate wedging where possible. I am very frugile
>with scraps, making smaller and smaller things from a slab, but when I
>throw...
>
>So now I have about 22 gal of heavy slip that I need to recycle in to
>useable clay. Without a mixer or pugmill, and minimizing wedging. The
>clay is a cone five porcelanous clay. Any helpful suggestions out there?
>I'm stumped and I don't dare add another bucket of slip to my bulging scrap
>tub.
>
>Thanks.
>
>Jane Peterson
>bones@teleport.com
>
>Hi Jame:
Try allowing the slip to firm up in any basket kind of container lined with
old sheets or pillow cases. Then try weding with your feet with the clay on
a clean concrete surface. Get your exercise at the same time as you
condition the clay. I have seen this form of wedging at clay tile factories
in Asia. Very effective.
Save those wrists.
Donald G. Goldsobel
Bob Kavanagh on fri 31 may 96
Pour off excess water. Make a plaster bat with a shallow concave
indentation in in it. Put your slop onto the bat and let it air for a
while. This could be a few hours or a day or two depending on the weather,
sun, air movement, etc. Turn the clay over fairly often as the under part
dries because of its contact with the plaster. As it firms up make in into
6-10 pound bungs. Take your cut off wire and slice the bungs into pieces
of, say, an inch thickness. Take the top slice and slap in onto your
wedging table (this slapping is a little like slapping it and a little like
throwing it - don't wear out your wrists by actually holding onto the clay
until it hits); take the next slice and slap it onto the first piece, but
at a 90 degree angle to the first. Continue this process until all your
slices are gone. This is wedging. Make more bungs of the newly wedged
clay and repeat the process a number of times until you see that the clay
is becoming more and more integrated. The more vigourously you do this
wedging the less you should have to knead your clay. You will have to
knead it a little before throwing. This activity will warm you up.
LOWELL BAKER on fri 31 may 96
I have suggested in the past that you pour the slip into a cotton bag
and lay it on the floor for a few hours. Turn it once or twice and
then peel the bag away for very good plastic clay.
Lowell
The University of Alabama
millie carpenter on fri 31 may 96
donald
could you pleas give a discription of how to do wedging by foot. I have
a picture in my mind of stomping arround as though I were trying to crush
grapes. Neatness is not my biggest asset so I would like some dirrection
before I jump in with both feet. (sorry)
millie
Jean Lehman on fri 31 may 96
We saw a potter in New Zealand who had strange white lumpy bags hanging
from the eaves of his studio on hooks. Turned out they were pillowcase type
bags filled with slip which he hung out to dry in the air. Only trick is
keeping an eye on them so they don't get TOO dry. Seemed to work for him.
You'll still have to wedge a bit, but if you do this in small enough
amounts it should be workable. I also can't do much wedging and I hire
someone to do it and the recycling stuff. Works for me.
Jean
Jeremy/Bonnie Hellman on fri 31 may 96
Jane, I agree with Marv Bartel's post about not letting the scrap pile up.
I recycle every day or every other day that I use clay. I've tried not
wedging a lot but it makes throwing on the wheel too difficult. The other
solution is to hire a student (cheap labor) to wedge for an hour. Bonnie
>At 04:59 PM 5/30/96 EDT, Jane Peterson wrote:
>>I have a bad wrist so I try to eliminate wedging where possible. I am very
>frugile
>>with scraps, making smaller and smaller things from a slab, but when I
>>throw... So now I have about 22 gal of heavy slip that I need to recycle
>in to
>>useable clay. Without a mixer or pugmill, and minimizing wedging. The
>>clay is a cone five porcelanous clay. Any helpful suggestions out there?
>>I'm stumped and I don't dare add another bucket of slip to my bulging scrap
>>tub.
>
>Jane,
> I often pile thick slip on dry paster and place another plaster
>piece on top to draw out the moisture. This draws out he water and gets it
>plastic fairly fast. If I do this every day, it really cuts down on the
>amount of clay to recycle.
> It is slower, but you can also spread the slip several inches thick
>on a clean concrete floor or on heavy cloth. A simple wood frame can
>contain it if it isn't thick enough to stay put. If space is limited, do
>only a few gallons at a time. Smooth the surface to avoid getting dry
>pieces. A fan is optional. In several days or a week it will be ready to
>wedge. Much of the mixing can be done with the feet in order to save the
>wrists.
>++++++++++++++
>Marvin Bartel, Art Dept
>Goshen College, Goshen, IN 46526
>marvinpb@goshen.edu
>http://www.goshen.edu
>++++++++++++++
Donald Goldsobel on sun 2 jun 96
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>donald
>
>could you pleas give a discription of how to do wedging by foot. I have
>a picture in my mind of stomping arround as though I were trying to crush
>grapes. Neatness is not my biggest asset so I would like some dirrection
>before I jump in with both feet. (sorry)
>
>millie
>
>Milliie!
Just jump in with both feet. I've seen it done, but never indulged. The
technique seems to be to mound the clay and push it down with one foot while
standing on top of it. The clay is pushed downward and out. Try it and share
the news.
Happy stomping!
Donald Goldsobel
Steven DiPasquale on sun 2 jun 96
I work in a small, waterless studio so must keep on top of recycling. I
scoop my trims while they are still moist into a small ice cream bucket, or
some such, then pour some of my throwing slip over a little at time, until
these trimmings just "hang together" and can be formed into softball size
lumps. I drop these lumps into an empty clay bag and this is the first clay
I wedge the next morning and can use it immediately.
Thought at the time of the thread on infectious diseases spreading through
the communal slurry, that if each student were able to "reconstitute" his
own trimmings in this way, the problem could be eliminated.
Added bonus -- allows me to start with nice warm throwing water the next day!
Carolyn - on Steven's account
Shrope/Ratcliffe on tue 4 jun 96
I've never recycled with my feet BUT I used to mix 1,000 lb. batches in
a 4x8 plywood trough with 12" ht. sides.Here's my method.
*Load all your dry ingredients.
*Hoe, from the 8' sides: pull all the material to one side, then go to
the other side and repeat. Do this several times, until all the material
is mixed. Also: hoe the long way a couple of times.
* take 200lbs. dry out to add later.
* add water, Hoe again, mix it up a bit wet.
* Jump in, You want to step down the 8' side, one foot width step at a
time. Make subsequent passes, moving up one foot length towards the
other side. Are you still with me?
* Mixing it wet is easier at the beginning and insures batch
consistency.
* Now add the dry, or better yet, have a friend add it for you.
* continue the step action down and across until you're done!
I used to plan 1/2 day to mix and bag 1,000lbs. with a helper.
Regards,
Peter
http://www.charm.net/~pssr/
Bob Kavanagh on tue 4 jun 96
When I have wedged by foot I found it simpler when I had something to
hold onto, so I would hang a cord or rope from the ceiling and
grab hold of it for stability.
Kathryn Whipple on wed 5 jun 96
Jane,
I recycle slip and/or slurry in large bisqued bowls. We probably all have a
couple of bowls that weren't quite nice enough to glaze sitting around
collecting dust... so I chose a couple of the sturdier and more copious ones
for recycling. If you have the time and patience you can homogenize your
slurry batch by batch in a kitchen blender. Or if you have even more time
and patience, you can sit with your hand in the bucket for hours squishing
up all the lumps. Been there, done that! I do wedge my clay, but i think a
smooth, airless slurry would dry out into a throwable lump.
Oh--and cover the bowls with cloth, if you don't want those mud daubers
around!
Kathy
Brooker, Fl
where our late garden is just beginning to yield tomatoes...and the
foundation of the studio (overlooking a rolling lightly wooded pasture with
a creek) is finally done!!
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