Today in the studio I spent couple hours with a pile of gooey clay. My pile of reclaim clay has been drying out on a large plaster bat for a few days. The top layer and edges were getting pretty dry. So I started by shaving them off and wedging them back in with some wetter clay.

At my wedging table I pounded the mess of clay into blocks. Then I took those blocks and shaved off thin slices, layering them into new piles. Mixing the clay a bit more in the process.

But when I got to the “center” of my reclaim pile, it was still a LOT wetter & gooier than the rest. But of course I was impatient… and not ready to stop in the middle of the project. Instead, I cut the clay into thinner slices and stood them up with a fan on them. Hoping the breeze would speed up the process a bit… I’m not sure that it did?! But it felt like the right thing…

While I was slicing & layering, mixing & homogenizing the clay, I sliced into something hard. What?

Oh… so THAT’s where my yellow rib had disappeared to.
Inside my reclaim bucket with lots of clay scraps!!!
Good thing the “slicing into thin layers” trick found it before I tried to wedge it back in.

More pounding. More stacking. More layering. More pounding again. Block after block.

Soon enough, I had pounded up all of my reclaim clay.
Still a little gooey in some places, but layered & blocked up just the same.

I put all of the blocks into thick plastic bags where it will stay for a few weeks. Then I’ll start using the new reclaim clay… doing a “real” wedging as I go. Until then… it’s just free clay!!! And you know how I LOVE FREE CLAY!!!

And now

No room for more scraps & trimmings when the bucket’s full. Another pile of reclaimed clay piled up on my plaster bat tonight. Too much for my usual large bat, so I had to add on a little “extension” on the side! It’s a strange mix of clays… a couple varieties of stonewares, some with iron, some with ochre, some B-Clay and some porcelain scraps for good measure! All cone 10 clay bodies so we’re good.

Well, it’s been awhile now… and time for another VIDEO on YouTube!!!
What with the Academy Awards coming in two weeks and all…

This time I tackled a softer platter than I’m accustomed to.
I threw the platter as a demo during my Tuesday night wheelthrowing class. It sat out during class and stiffened up more than I expected. So I brought it up to my studio, sprayed it really well with water and wrapped it up. Maybe too well.

As you know, timing is everything. And I knew that I had a certain “window of opportunity” to do some stamping… otherwise it might be too dry if I put it off any longer. So I forged ahead… and it was a little sticky. Typically I like the pot to be on the softer end of the “leather-hard” spectrum. But this one may have been a smidge too soft. If you watch closely, you can see the stamp sticking a bit… and more apparent, my fingers were sticking to the clay too!

But I decided to forge ahead… knowing that it might stick too much or slump too much.
It’s just clay, right?!

Click here to go to YouTube for “Another Stamped Platter.”

So five days wasn’t quite enough…
I just had to do a Facebook Challenge BONUS day for “Seasonal Saturday.”
An assortment of clay “novelties” that make me smile throughout the year!

Whoops… so I guess it should really be 5 photos x 6 days, huh???

It’s Day Three of my Facebook Portfolio Challenge.
So far we’ve had Mugshot Monday, Texture Tuesday…
and now I’m calling it “Working Wednesday.” Photos of work in progress.

And today I nominate Marjorie Woodruff, my first wheelthrowing teacher at Lillstreet, to take part in the Facebook 3×5 Challenge!!!

Since we had “extras” for Mugshot Monday yesterday,
I figured I should continue the trend with a few “extras” for Texture Tuesday!!!

Remember, there are a LOT more textures to see on my Pinterest Page!
Over a hundred textures pressed in clay. A lot of visual eye-candy to get lost in.
Click here for my TEXTURES Pinterest Album.

Just a couple quick cups… cylinders first…

WARNING : I will be “infecting” all of my students tomorrow night during the first night of our new pottery session. My Beginning Wheel students better be ready… I hope their immunizations are up-to-date?!

For those who can’t quite ready the small type…
WARNING!   CERAMIC FEVER.  VERY CONTAGIOUS!
Symptoms: Continual complaint as to household duties. Paints day and night instead.
Sleepless nights dreaming up ideas. Anxiety waiting for final firing.
Swell head when you receive your first ribbon.

NO KNOWN CURE

TREATMENT: medication is useless. disease is not fatal.
Victim should attend as many classes as possible.

Thanks for sharing Emily Murphy… and for spreading your own contagion “Blog-itis Maximus” to me several years ago. YOU are very contagious as well!!!

I’m pretty excited about these new little cuties. They’re pretty much my “first” foray into porcelain… thanks to Emily for giving me all of her reclaim scraps a few months back.

They looked pretty sweet in the kiln, and even sweeter as I’m prepping them for this weekend’s Holiday Home Show. Love the soda finish on porcelain, and the colorful orange slip variations

So I’ve been dabbling with the reclaim porcelain I bagged up a couple weeks ago. I’ve made a few batches of small cups, but this time decided to go a bit further and tackle porcelain mugs. Not as bad as I expected… gooey when throwing, quick drying, easy to stamp and handles a little fussy. We’ll see how they turn out…