Drying Greenware

Assuming you're talking about hand made pottery and not cast wares, the only reason to cover a clay work with plastic is to slow the drying time--it's not standard practice. Covering with plastic is frequently done in learning environments because the class may only meet once or twice a week, and the pot would get too dry to trim or add handles, assemble, whatever. Once a handle is attached, some people will cover the pot to slow the drying to allow the handle to better fit the pot without cracking off. If you live in a desert area, or during the hot summer, it's sometimes necessary to cover with plastic to prevent warping or cracking which can occur from too fast drying--particularly large flat platters. As soon as the handles or pots are white looking instead of wet looking, you can surely remove the plastic and allow it to dry in the open. I finish drying my pots in my kiln room on shelves above the kilns, or candling them in the kiln with one switch on low overnight.

Brad Sondahl (New beginners pottery videos to be released in the next week or so)

In article , Fred writes

Assuming there are no bits like handles that need care in drying, I dry my work by pointing 2 electric fans at them, one on each side. Highly effective; after all the laundry dries best on a breezy day regardless of whether it's sunny or no!

Steve

What kind of wax do you use? How far from the handle do you apply it? Thanks,

Fred

Just the regular wax resist you use for the foot of the pot to keep glaze off. I put it liberally around the joint. I have never thought about or paid attention to how far from the joint the wax goes - an inch or two? It kind of depends on how big the attachment is. I still dry pieces with attachments or plates slowly by putting them in a damp closet but by slowly I mean a week rather than a couple of days.

I should add that on plates I also dry them slow to the point of trimming (cover the lip with plastic) so it is longer that a total week of drying from initial throwing.

one of the most important things you can do to make your drying as painless as possible with few if any cracks, is to invert the pot as soon as possible so that the pot bottom dries before the walls. This will prevent any stress from developing as the bottom shrinks inside the immovable dry walls, getting tighter and tighter like a drum head, until the strain cracks it across the middle point.

I dry plates, bowls, pitchers etc. with less than 2% breakage!

Tommy

Hello Tommy,

Nice to see you back on the NG again, it's been a long time.

Steve Bath UK

In article , Tommy Humphries writes

Hi Fred

I know this is an old post, but I have some input for you :-)

The slower you dry, the less chance you have of tensions building up in your pots. So if you have the patience, leave the plastic on until the pot starts turning white. Put some newspaper between the plastic and the pot, so that condensation will not make wetter areas on the pot.

As previously said, turn the pot upside-down as soon as possible. If the edge is uneven, use some foam rubber or other spongy stuff to sett the edge of the pot on and then pack it all in newspaper and plastic.

If you HAVE to dry a pot right side up, put some plastic over the top edge and drape it down, so that you slow down the drying of the edge.

As I understand it, you are a hobby potter, like me. Thus, you want all your pieces to turn out. Drying slowly will help you out with that. A week isn't really that long.

Also, suggest you get a hydrometer (measuring humidity) for the place where you dry your wares. My room is usually 25-30% humidity and the pots dry fine.

Marianne