So I was right… and my reclaim clay was already dry enough to be “processed” back into clay. So after a lot of slicing, layering, pounding, wedging, layering, slicing, pounding, squishing, layering, etc.it felt more like clay… and more homogenized than it was before. My freshly turned-out clay has a lot of different “pockets” of different clay bodies. And I would rather have it all the same. So it takes some work to blend it all back together! Some extra “workout” to slam it all back together. All in the name of 207 pounds of FREE CLAY!!!

So now it’s all bagged up and resting. In a couple more days, I might find the energy to finish wedging all of it. Typically I take my reclaim clay and layer it together with some new clay. So that the clay I actually use is about half reclaim & half new. So now I can’t wait to get started digging into my FREE CLAY to make some new work!!!

Happy New Year… Happy New Clay!!!

Once again, I’m kicking off the New Year by turning out a new batch of reclaim clay in my studio. It’s a pretty big pile this time. Lots of trimmings & scraps all re-hydrated and ready to go. Unfortunately, I think I may have let it go a bit too long over the holiday break… and the pile is bit drier “stiffer” than I’m accustomed to.  I actually added some more water to it and stirred it up BEFORE I turned it out onto my plaster bat to get it to dry again. Kind of counter-intuitive. And I’m a bit concerned that the “wedging it back into clay” process may be a bit tougher than usual. I usually need to let it sit for a couple days to stiffen up… but this time I might be wedging tomorrow!!!

And every time I do this, it reminds me of “The Blob” from my childhood. Very few people seem to remember this, but it was really cool. “The Blob” was basically a pile of clay on a pedestal that “came to life” as an artist did some quick cutting & sculpting to give it a personality. To the best of my recollection, it was from the kid’s show “BJ and Dirty Dragon.”

On our way out of town, we just had to make one last stop at my “other favorite place” in Minneapolis. Let’s just the car is a few hundred pounds heavier than it was before!

This afternoon I made a quick trip to Chicago Ceramic Supply.
So I now have enough terra cotta & clear glaze to start some Halloween production!
Tis’ the season to start carving Jack-O-Lanterns, right?!
Especially if I hope to have some ready for “Art In The Barn.”

“Art In The Barn” – Saturday, September 28th & Sunday, September 29th, 2013.
On the grounds and in the barns surrounding Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital
in Barrington, Illinois. I will once again be in my double booth in the Lower Barn.
More details to come when it gets a bit closer.

Click here for more information about Chicago Ceramic Supply.

So I unloaded my bisque kiln… and it covered most of my studio work surfaces.
Problem being that I’m still trying to finish some more pieces for another bisque kiln tomorrow. And I am quickly running out of room to work. So… necessity was the mother of invention… and now I’m stacking my work in progress! Yes, it’s come to this. Yikes!

Last night I continued my reclaiming of the “free” clay I got from Katie B.
The clay I had sliced thin was all dry, so I broke it up into small pieces and added it to my reclaim bucket. I then added enough water to cover the dried clay. Bubbles. Gurgling. And a slight hissing sound as the water seeped into the dry clay.

So now it sits… submerged & slaking. I’ll give it a few weeks, stir it up once & awhile, and when it’s ready… turn it back into “real” clay!!!

After camp, I went up to my studio to find a “surprise” pile of old clay to be reclaimed.

Katie Biderbost, one of my longtime pottery friends, gave me all of her “dead” bags of clay. She knows how much I love reclaiming to get free clay. So I sliced up several of the bags to help them dry out completely.

Tomorrow when they’re dry, I’ll crumble them up to add them into my reclaim bucket to begin the slaking process. Thank you Katie B. for the free clay!!!

After a week on the plaster bat, it turns out that my latest batch of reclaim clay gave me 129 pounds of FREE clay! Okay, so sure there was a lot of slicing, layering, pounding, layering, slicing, wedging, bagging and sweating… so I guess it wasn’t quite “free” after all. But you still gotta love reclaim!!!

You know how I LOVE reclaim clay.
It’s a little extra work for a LOT of “free” clay!!!
For those of you who might not know, “reclaiming clay” is basically taking all of your
trimmings & dried clay scraps and reconstituting them back into real, useable clay!

And since my studio is still basically clean through the holidays, I’ve been finding it tough
to really get my act together and get back into full production mode. Still on holiday?!
You know how when there’s no wet work under plastic, pieces that need to be trimmed,
or a kiln deadline approaching, it’s so easy to put things off. If you don’t get started, then
you’re not “trapped” by the calendar. I’ve been meaning to get “started” again…
but instead, I seem to be finding a lot of “little jobs” to fill my time.

Like making stamps.
Like blogging.
Like reclaiming clay.

Next, I need to finish applying to my Summer Art Fairs… and then
I may have run out of those “little jobs” and I’m going to need to start throwing again.
And I can’t wait.

So you know how much I love “free” clay?! So tonight I went to make some new work…
but my bags of reclaim were a bit too wet & squishy. And new bag of soda clay I grabbed
was a bit too hard. What to do?… mix them together of course! Instead of power wedging”,
I find it a lot quicker & easier to layer the two. I start by piling up thin layers of each clay.
You can actually see the layers of the clay when I cut the pile in half.

After cutting, you take one half and slam it down on top of the other half. Press them down
together, slam if necessary, and cut in half again. Take one half and place it on top of the
other half. Press down and squish together again. Repeat. Every time you re-pile and squish,
the number of layers doubles. Thus making the layers thinner & thinner each time.

Cut in half. Restack. Press. Squish. Repeat…. and see how the layer are getting thinner???

After cutting & layering the clay several times, the two separate layers kind of disappeared
and were ready for some wedging to finish mixing the two. Not finished wedging… just some
quick wedging to mix it all up!!! And to start thinking about what I was going to make?

Once the clay was all incorporated, wedged and ready to go…
I cut up the clay into smaller chunks and wedged them into balls for throwing.

So I threw some more “replenishment” pieces… and threw.. and threw… and threw…

So now I’ve got to get them all stamped, slipped & trimmed…
and dried so they can make it into my next bisque kiln coming up VERY soon!!!