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?!

An early start with a lot of wedged potential.

Another day of gloopy-gloppy fun at Summer Camp. This group’s third & final day of wheelthrowing… for tomorrow we start trimming, carving, stamping & adding handles. And then Friday they’ll paint all of their masterpieces with colored slip. They will then be fired, glazed in clear & fired again after they’re gone. So the campers will need to come back to pick up their pottery treasures in a couple weeks!

A little Sunday night spruce-up in my studio. I trimmed & slip-painted a few class demo pieces, did some cleaning & pulled out a LOT of reclaimed clay onto my large plaster bat. It’s going to take a couple days for this gloppy pile to dry out a bit before I can start wedging it back into usable clay. But you know it’s my favorite… FREE CLAY!!!

Spent part of this weekend “working” in the studio reclaiming some dried clay. Trimmings, broken pieces & some class demos that “went bad.” Smashing, crushing & pulverizing bone dry clay can be kinda fun. Then I add it to my reclaim bin with slurry & water. Let it soak & slake down… soon enough I’ll turn it out into a large plaster bat. And voila’… FREE CLAY!!!

Balls of clay… with such potential… before & after!

Of course it wasn’t all fun & games in camp… as Isla didn’t quite pull her hair back far enough while throwing at the wheel! Her hair dangling too close to the spinning ball of clay. After several warnings… she ended up with a glop of clay tangled up in her curly locks!!! I gave her three options…

1. scissors

2. wash it out in the gross slop sink

3. let it dry completely and crumble it out later that night at home.

She chose option three… so this chunk dangled in her hair all day!!!
A good reminder for the other kids with long hair… listen to Gary!!!

After summer camp, but before teaching tonight… and I think I can crank out a quick batch of mini bowls. Fingers crossed…