Reclaiming clay - with or without lumps?

I'm not entirely sure if this answers your question, but when I have reclaimed clay that's partially wet with lots of slurry and partially dryer (leather hard projects that I changed my mind about for example) I first put them all together into a plastic bag for a week or so. Then I take small handfulls, alternating the wetter clay with the lumpier clay and throw them down together onto my wedging table, into one mixed pile. Depending on how different the consistencies are, I might do this a couple of times through to integrate them better. After I've thrown down these small handfulls, I wedge the whole thing together. If the clay still is too stiff to work with, I'll sprinkle a little water on the wedged clay and wrap it up tightly in plastic again and re-wedge later.

I don't think I'd want to do this with a hundred pounds of clay, but for smaller amounts (10 or 20 lbs, or less, at a time) it works well.

Sorry if this isn't clear--it's hard to describe without visuals.

Deb R.

Hallo Marianne,

i have a lot of clay to recycle, since i have about 20 kids working in my shop once a week. What i do is the following: i let it dry out completely, bone dry, then throw it in a bucket and cover it with water. (If you have pieces that are leatherhard or not totally dry, they will not soften sufficiently.) A few days later i syphon off the excess water and take an electric drill with one of those stirring things which you use to stir paint or mortar, and stir it to the consistency of thick buttercream. This way all the lumps are gone. I then dry it on a plaster bat for a fiew days (depending on the weathercondition) and wedge it.

Best regards from sunny Austria Monika

Dear Marianne,

I find it better to dry out my clay for reclaim before doing anything to it, that way I get no lumps. Pillow cases, old trouser legs, etc. are the best way to dry clay slop out. Personally I dislike plaster bats; prone to damage so bits can get into the clay, heavy and awkward in a small workshop, and tend to get

*hairy* underneath. At least with pillow cases et al, when you've finished with them they fold up out of the way!

Steve Bath UK

In article , Bubbles writes

Hi Steve

Yeah - I was a bit sceptical about getting plaster bits into my clay as well, so I figured I would try the pillow-case system first.

I have totally dried my clay - it has been sitting outside (under the roof) for about a month to dry! Still it has lumps in it. But I can try using a drill-stirrer :-)

Marianne

Greuzi, Monika :-)

I did dry it really well, but maybe I shouldn't have worked with it at all until it had stood a couple of days? I will try to smooth it by hand, and if that doesn't work, I will have to buy a stirrer for the drill. Money isn't the problem there - space is, though! :-)

Marianne

I'll second Monika's method of letting everything dry out competely. I had some hand-dug clay that had lumps, and several weeks of soaking did absolutely nothing. So then I dried it out thoroughly (setting over the kiln) and broke up the lumps by passing it through a windows screen. Turned out beautifully!

I have used the plaster bat method in the past and only recently started the hanging method. Hanging is much easier and I will never go back to the plaster for drying. However, pillowcases may be a bit weak for the weight of the clay. Heavy denim jeans legs work well... you can tie the ends with wire to seal them into long skinny sacks.

I found that just pouring the slip into the sacks leaves a lot of thin slip coating the cloth near the top, which has a tendency to dry out quickly. Then when you move the sack, it can fall onto the mass of plastic clay. There are two things I do to avoid this: I cover the top of the sacks with loose plastic bags above the mass of clay, so that the thin coating never dries out. (Might need to spritz that area occasionally if you don't get the plastic just right.) Then the other trick is when it is time to remove the mass of plastic clay, take it out of the *bottom* of the sack by removing the wire that held the leg closed.

The clay in the sacks tends to dry faster on the outside, so it may take some experimenting to know when to turn it out. Sometimes the inside is still a little softer than you want it. However, all in all this method seems to be a lot easier than drying on plaster.

Hope this helps!

Bob Masta dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom D A Q A R T A Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis

It had dried for over 4 weeks before I added the water. Are you saying it wasn't dry enough, and that's why I have lumps in all 3 buckets?

Should I wait until there is a certain consistency, or can I just dump it all in there and let any excess water drain out?

Would maybe spraying the bag with water about once a day possibly help keep the same wetness throughout?

Certainly does! I am so glad to have found this forum, where I can get great advice and learn more about clays and pottery!

Marianne

Just a note... I only dry out my clay for recycling if it has reached the leather hard stage. Other wise I just throw it in a bucket with water in it for reclaiming later. When we had a large studio everyone put their clay for recycling in a large trash can. When the clay reached to top we would dump it out on the cement porch and do the "I Love Lucy" grape dance in it. That was some 25+ years ago though. I can't even imagine emptying a large trash can of clay now. It sure was fun dancing through it though.

I have a plaster bat that fits nicely on one of those supermarket cardboard boxes in which peppers, grapes and the like come in. I have a bunch of those for various purposes (transporting things from the workplace to the kiln etc.) Nothing "hairy" under that. To avoid getting plaster into the clay, i use a piece of sheet fabric over the board, put the clay on that and the problem is solved. The clay never touches the plaster.

Monika

If you ever do a "remake" of the I Love Lucy stomping, let me know so I can come join! Sounds like GREAT fun!!! :-D

Usually, I am reclaiming clay straight from the wheel - either just turned or really sloppy that is gooping all over my fingers.... is it OK to just dump that in water instead? I've read that pre-dried clay soaks up the water better than wet clay... but you are saying that reclaiming wet/leather-hard clay works just as well?

Marianne

Leather hard clay will not absorb the water so that I dry out completely but my slop, wet trimming (the stuff you scrape off the wheel, cut from the bottom outside edge, uneven trimmed lip, etc), pots that died in the throwing (oops! that foot was a bit too thin after all) I just throw in a bucket and let the water evaporate to a point of the clay being 'wedgeable'. This I throw out on a plaster board if it is too wet but almost there, poke a bunch of holes in it for faster drying and then start wedging as soon is it is not 'muddy'. I have thrown trimmings from making the foot into it as well. When the clay is that small it will take in water even if it is leather hard.

wet/leather-hard