Tools of the Trade

Another great question I get asked is “How many tools do you use?” Or, “How on earth did you get that texture?!” Quite honestly, I think there is a time when pre-made pottery tools are completely necessary. Tools for trimming, different types of rubber or wood kidney’s, and little trick tools to achieve certain looks are clearly perfect!

However, there are times when a little silliness is called for! My silliness either begins in a kitchen store or some hardware store. There are a vast array of tools that will provide different textures hanging on the walls or sitting in some bins. One of my person favorites is the small, 3″ long vegetable peeler! I think I got it for .99 at a kitchen store and it has been worth every penny! I mainly use it on my smaller whiskey cups to create what are called “facets.” The reason I use this and not my wire tool is because the blade of the peeler is already set to a certain depth. That assures me that I wont go through the wall of my pot when Im slicing off one of the sides. Take a peak in the gallery to the “Cup” section and you’ll see what Im referring to.

Another favorite tool of mine would be a 6″ screw I have and I dowel rod that is wrapped with rope. Both of these “tools” provide some really unique textures on certain pieces. The rope technique is actually nothing new, and I learned it from a potter I highly respect! You can see his work at www.dicklehman.com. You’ll also notice he was the one that got me hooked on side-firing as well as making little cups with lots of attitude!

Quite simply, the best tool to often use is your mind! Just walk around keeping your eyes peeled and think to yourself: “what kind of texture would that give to clay?” If you dont know the answer, try it out and see for yourself! What do you have to lose? You can reclaim clay! And if you dont know how, you can see my post on doing just that!

Reclaiming Clay

I get asked this question a lot at my work, so I figured I could put the steps on here to hopefully help some people out. Reclaiming clay is a very simple press and if you get messy along the way…well, that’s just the whole point when it comes to working in clay.

1. Place completely dried out clay chunks, trimmings, etc in a 5 gallon bucket. *If you have a large amount of dry clay chunks, hit them with a hammer (this can be rather fun!) till they are about 1-2 inches in size. Place them in the bucket.
2. Fill the bucket full of water about 3 inches above the top of the clay chunk pile.
3. Let this stand for a day or two or at least until the clay is reconstituted.
4. With a painters drill, or you own hand, give the entire bucket a good mix. Clay should be very soft and all the chunks should be “smooshable” with your bare hand.
5. Let stand for another day.
6. By now, you should be able to see the clay settling on the bottom with water sitting on top. Use a cup or smaller container to screen off AS MUCH WATER AS YOU CAN WITHOUT DISTURBING THE CLAY BELOW!
   
   *ATTENTION THOSE CURIOUS ABOUT MAKING SLIP (If not, skip to number 9)*:
    
7. Give the bucket of clay another good stir, trying to make a smooth consistency. If you need to screen off more water, repeat steps 5-6 until you have a very smooth clay sludge!
8. If you would like to, run the clay through a very open mesh in order to remove any other chunks and finely tune the thickness of your slip. I prefer my slip a little on the thicker side because I use it on wheel thrown pieces and not for slip casting.
9. Once the water is screened off the top, scoop out the clay with your hand (yes, its messy…get used to it!) and place on a large plaster square or rectangle. Clay pile should be no taller than a few inches. Anymore and it will take too long to dry.
10. My plaster square is about 20″x20″x3″. I keep the clay about 2″ from the edge and about 3-4″ tall. Also, make sure you smooth out the entire edges of the clay before you walk away. This will allow the edges to dry properly and avoid dry clay particles in moist clay–which can cause issues down the road while throwing.
11. Let the clay dry until it is able to be wedged without smearing it all over you wedging table. A good tool to test the moisture content can be found at the end of your arm, attached to this thing called your hand! Stick your finger in the middle of the clay, if its too mushy, let it dry some more. If it’s too stiff, you were a goofball and didnt keep a good eye on it!
12. If the clay is drying at different times, cut off and wedge what you can, and let the other parts dry some more. Otherwise, cut the clay down and wedge until you have reached your desired consistency.

If you find that you are having really dry parts and really soft parts of clay, cut them down to about 4″x4″ sizes and stack them in an alternating fashion: hard/soft/hard and then wedge. By having two harder pieces of clay on the outside with a soft middle, it’s easier to wedge and it allows the soft middle to spread throughout the stiffer pieces. If you have any questions about this process, feel free to contact me!

My favorite thing to do in clay

One of the things I really enjoy doing is experimenting with glazing and welcoming happy accidents. I believe that there is a thin line between crazy and adventurous and it is a line I like to tread with my shapes and glazes. Relinquishing a pot to the kiln can be scary at times, and yes, there are let downs. However, the joy’s are oh so sweet and erase any memory of a “failed" attempt.