It’s that time again… time to turn out my reclaim bucket. Full of gooey-gloppy clay reclaimed from my trimmings & scraps. This pile will sit out on this plaster bat for a few days to help remove some of the extra moisture. And then the wedging marathon will commence. No pug mill here… just my own “muscle memory”!!!

When I came into the studio today, I intended to make more pots. But then saw my huge pile of reclaimed clay sitting there waiting for me. So I decided today was the day to finish processing my reclaim.

First I chunked it up into blocks.

Then I cut thin slices & layered them with slices of fresh new clay & slightly dried clays. I’m not to particular… any high-fire clay can be layered in. It’s a great way to “use up” any partial bags of clay… as well as intermingling it with drier & wetter clays. A lot of slicing & stacking.

Then I tackle each pile by slicing it in half vertically… stacking it tall & slamming it down on the table. Let gravity do some of the work. Slice it, stack it, pound it, repeat. Eventually the layers get thinner & thinner. Doing a lot of blending for you.

Close enough for now… into bags to store my new batch of clay. I’ll do some real wedging when I start using the clay. All mixed. All blended. After all… IT’S JUST CLAY!!!

In the middle of my “sanggam” class demo last night, I was shaving off the extra slip in a small bowl to reveal the inlaid stamps… and I “revealed” a little something extra!!! Looks like I found a piece of plastic bag mixed in with studio’s reclaim clay!!! ugh… the “beauty” of class reclaim?!

And here we go… this is how my mug handles begin!
Little wedged clay nuggets ready to be pulled the traditional way!

There was a LOT of trimming that went on yesterday… so I had a lot of clay scraps everywhere. Perfect chance to “pulverize” my bone dry scraps before adding them to my reclaim bucket. The finer the bits, the smoother the reclaim!

And yes, bone dry clay is important for easier reclaiming of clay. I get frustrated all the time when I see students just tossing lumps of clay into a bucket filled with water… and then expecting it to do something magical to become reclaim?! Word to the wise… a wet lump of clay won’t get “wetter” in a bucket of water… it will still be a lump.

Here we go… giddy-up!!!

An early start with a lot of wedged potential.

Step-by-step… processing my reclaimed clay this afternoon! It has set out in a plaster bat for awhile and is finally a good “clay” consistency. I like to layer it with some fresh new B-clay. Thin layers of each, sliced in half, stacked, squished, repeat. It incorporates both clays quickly with just a bit of wedging at the end. When it comes to using this reclaimed clay, it will all get a full wedging then!

Time to turn out another huge batch of reclaimed clay in my studio. It’s been a busy season making lots of pots for the holidays… which means lots of trimming… which means lots of RECLAIM!!!

A beautiful blue-sky bike ride north into Evanston… which just happened to take me past this amazing house on the corner or Lake & Hinman! Terra cotta craftsmanship like you’ve never seen before. Exquisite design & craftsmanship… they don’t make ’em like they used to!