Reclaiming clay - how-to?

any amount is fine - especially as a nebie. start with a small batch & get used to the method. then in time you'll graduate to larger loads.

see ya

steve

Bubbles wrote:

That is about the size I work with from dry trimmings, failures, etc (5 gallon buckets). For wet clay that comes from working, I just put it on a plaster board as I'm working and then at the end of the session wedge that all up, bag it to add to or use it to make stamps if it isn't enough to throw with. (just remembered I have some recycling at home that I forgot to wedge and bag up - hope the plastic cover was enough to keep it moist...). Donna

Servus Marianne,

I have a lot of clay to recycle, since i have children here working once a week. I found it the easiest way to let it dry completely, bonedry, then put it in a bucket, pour water over it to cover it, after a couple of days I syphon the water off the top, use a drill with one of those mixing fixtures to make a nice cream out of it and then spread it out onto a plasterboard of two, about two inches thick, leave it there, depending on weather conditions, and then wedge it to make usable clay again. If you have bits which are almost leatherhard and submerge them in water, they will never become soft. If this sounds a bit complicated, send me an email and i can explain it in german.

Liebe Gruesse, Monika

-- Monika Schleidt snipped-for-privacy@schleidt.org

if you wish to write me a mail, remove the number from my user name

I always work with 5 gallon buckets of scraps--the slop will spread out onto two 4 foot boards. These are the instructions from my website:

the scrap clay on the bisque kiln or in kiln room (this loosens clay particle bonds--critical step). Slake (wet) it by pouring water over scraps in 5 gallon bucket. Let it sit for awhile, then poke with stick to mix and debubble it. Pour off excess water into another bucket. Leave in kiln room till dry enough to spread on boards. Wedge when workable, store when proper consistency.I think the drying is the main things newbies miss--since they throw extra wet and the stuff seems so gloppy already. The problem is that semidry lumps of clay don't admit water readily, but if they're dried completely, they will. The poking with the stick to remove bubbles and allow water to penetrate lumpier areas is also an important point.Brad

Hi Brad.

The stick idea is a good one. But hubby has one of these stirrer-things for his drill that he uses to mix small batches of concrete. Would that be better? Or would it just put more air into the clay, thus making me wedge for hours (something my wrists wouldn't be happy about).

Marianne

Hi Donna :-)

Good idea with the really wet stuff - but I am trying to avoid too wet - and hope to get better at this - thus I will be mostly just leaving a bucket for a couple of weeks or more (while filling up the next bucket) to dry, then treat.

How do you mean about making stamps? Pattern stamps, I suppose. What do you do then? Just form them into a stamp-shape first, then carve them when they are hard enough?

Marianne

I always let the buckets stand a long time before I reclaim. That much I have learned, that the clay must be as dry as possible.

I would be interested in reading about what you do with your kids! I have a "tageskind" (day-kid? haha!) who likes to make stuff, but she sometimes needs some little ideas to give her a creative push. So far, she has made a grotto with holes for her guppies to swim in and out of, a totem-pole-like pole with an alligator-pincher on to for pictures, several different bowls, a cup with 2 handles and a snake wrapped around it, a ring for a giant, a funny-looking frog and a few little other things. She turns 8 tomorrow (30th).

It could be fun to invite her and 2-3 friends over to make stuff with me, and then I get it fired at my teacher's workshop. I love to be around kids!

Ummmm - that wouldn't be very helpful! HAHA! My English and Norwegian are mother tongues, but my SWISS-German is only 4 years old! Though I do know a lot of pottery-terms (though don't ask me about political stuff and so on - vocab-building takes a long time! Hehe!).

Marianne

I dry out all my trimmings etc., then put them into a large bucket with lots of water and mix it up with a heavy duty paint mixer in a drill, I also add a bit of Cider Vinegar to help it sour quickly. The next step is to pour the slop into a trouser leg, preferably one made of man-made fibres (they don't rot), with the bottom either sewn up or tied in a knot, and hang it up to sweat dry. When it's a bit too firm on the outside, it's a bit soft inside, so I peal of the leg, cut it into lumps and bag it. When I need some I wedge & knead enough for the day and use it. I know this sounds like a lot of work but it truly isn't; just a few minutes each day and no BIG effort. Also a hanging *sock* of clay takes up much less room than a full drying board.

Steve Bath UK

In article , Bubbles writes

I've never heard of using vinegar in clay before. How do you mean that it sours quickly? How much do you add? Tell me more, please!

I did that before I got my board made, but now I am trying the board method. Problem with hanging socks, is that they drip! :-)

I love to work reclaiming clay and wedging - it is a kind of meditation for me - so it doesn't matter how long it takes.

Marianne

I tried a drill powered mixer once, and I've heard of others that like them. I can't remember now why, but I know I liked the results better from just poking it with a stick. Incidentally, with this method, as long as you monitor the drying, and start wedging once a day when it's no longer sticky when you poke a finger in it, it's not hard on your wrists... Brad

Any clay that I take off of the pot when throwing gets put on plaster to take out excess water so this just has to be wedged up. I just make a giant marble bit of clay, push something interesting in it, and as I'm doing so I'm pinching it so that it makes something of a handle. You can also carve a design into one or both ends a tube of clay. This is really hard to describe. It doesn't really matter what you push into it or how you form it. It is a hit and miss proposition to some degree. Stamps that I have put a lot of work into don't work in the end because they are too busy and just look messy. Some of my more boring looking stamps make the more interesting designs when used to make multiple patterns. It lets you give texture to pieces easily. As an example - take the marble bit of clay, roll it out to a short sausage shape, carve off little pie shapes in four to six corners to leave a raised pattern on the end. Let this dry, bisque fire and then make a field of flowers in a plate in one corner or section (you can make a center to the flower design by making a stamp that is just pointed to a round end of the size you want that has had a ball point pen or pensil making multiple little indents.

If I think of it, I will take some photos and post them but it really is just open to your imagination.

Donna

Ok, i have 20 kids, in four groups of five each, each group for an hour. The youngest are firstgraders, the oldest are something like 14, 15 years, some have been coming for years, (the longest i had was a girl who came for ten years, she started at age seven and stopped when she almost finished highschool). One of the rules is, i don't tell them what to make, but how to make it. They have to think up something on their own, (I have a few little books though, which they can look through if they cant think of anything to make). Of course they copy each other, there are times they make lots of candlesticks, then they make lots of picture frames, (the latest things were butterflies and roses!) and so on, some of them are very creative and skillfull, others are not, but, whatever they make is ok, is admired, there are no failures, and they all love it. And so do I. Yesterday was the last day for this schoolyear, i fired three kilns this week, to have all their stuff ready, they pack it all up, we play games with the little ones, make chocolate fondue with the older ones and wish each other a happy summer. In summer i have three (or maybe four) weekendworkshops for grownups, Saturday, Sunday, all day. They make, i fire and glaze and fire again.

let me know, if i can help you with anything.

Monika

-- Monika Schleidt snipped-for-privacy@schleidt.org

if you wish to write me a mail, remove the number from my user name

monica, you mind if i join your next class? slounds like a lot of fun!

see ya

steve

M>

I see what you mean now, Donna. But I would really love to see a pic of those you have made to get some inspiration :-)

Marianne

Sounds really good! I don't have room for that many, but did have 3

7-year-olds once around the table in my pottery room. We had a lovely time. Do you have books that are especially with ideas for kids/beginners, or just general pottery books?

I have a few "saltzteig" (salt-dough?) books with things to make which could also be idea-giving, I suppose.

My teacher has had tons of wonderful frogs, totem-poles and other stuff that kids have made.

Sounds really nice! My "class" are having lunch together before the last real 3-hour stint before summer.

Ahhhh! So you glaze for everyone? My day-care girl lives so close, she comes and paints on the glaze herself. And I glaze all my stuff myself - as I love to see what effects I can get.

Thanks, Monica! If you have some pictures of what your kids have made, maybe I could print them out to show my kids?

Marianne

I do that because it is too difficult to get them all together a couple of weeks later again. This way they can just pick up their stuff whenever they have time.

Too bad, you should have told me last week, when i had boxes of stuff here ;-( Some other time.

Monika

-- Monika Schleidt snipped-for-privacy@schleidt.org

if you wish to write me a mail, remove the number from my user name

Monika,

If you wouldn't consider this butting in, I can send a link for Marianne to a few pictures of what my young ones have done.

Lori

Hi Lori

Any tips are welcome, as far as I am concerned, anyway :-)

Marianne