Production Tips For Production Potters

[MikeFaul]

Here's another tip... It's actually a variation on damp boxes we use to use. We use to make damp boxes out out air tight poly boxes from The Container Store. They worked great because they have a gasket around the lid and create a nice air tight seal. We would pour a plaster slab in the bottom and put our greenware int them and it would store indefinitely. You could even rehydrate bone dry pots to any stage of moisture content with a little TLC and patience because the clay would absorb moisture from the air (humidity levels up to 100%). 

 

But, in a production studio, the system has a problem, when you start moving orders of 100 and 200 pieces you end up with boxes and lids stacked to the ceiling. And, you opening and closing bins kills your productivity. So, we came up with this damp box based on our ware cart system:

1. Purchase a ready to assemble aluminum frame bun pan cart (Side loading NOT FRONT LOADING) for about $175 you can get used for even less,
2. Buy a case of aluminum full sheet pans (18 x 26 I think)
3. Pour plaster slabs into the aluminum sheet pans, nearly to the rim, make sure you do this on a level surface and you get the air bubbles out.
4. The sheet pans w/ plaster slabs will be your shelves, they will be heavy about 15 to 17 lbs.
5. Restaurant supplies sell poly vinyl shrouds with zippers designed to cover the bun pan racks
6. You now have an adjustable shelf damp cart that will keep your greenware fresh for a good 7 to 10 days, cost is less than $500. Oh, and it's on casters. Justsayn.

A couple of maintenance points on this system. The vinyl shroud will shrink, you can get a length of elastic band from an outdoor outfitter and a sliding grommet and run it around the bottom of the shroud. Tighten it up to a nice snug fit around the base of the cart. No matter what you do, this will never have the same tight seal as the boxes, but we never let pots sit around for a long time so it works for us. Second, periodically check the dampness of your plaster slabs. You'll need to rehydrate them as water evaporates. They hold a lot more water than you think. 

 

Be careful not to place your greenware too close to the sides. The angle irons from the bun pan cart hang over the shelves by 1" and they will cut your pots. You might consider marking your plaster with a red sharpie to identify a "safe zone"

 

This system holds 15 to 20 large mugs per shelf. You can generally get about 80 to 120 small pots in a cart. A cart stands about 6'4" tall and takes up about 4 square feet of floor space. 

 

For most studio potters this means all of your greenware is now located in a 4 square foot space. to work on a pot you only have to go to that one small workspace to find it. Things are not spread out, individually wrapped in plastic wrap. I had a potter who was wrapping every pot in plastic it drove me crazy unwrapping three pots trying to find the one... 

[oldlady]

gee, somehow i feel vindicated.  i have almost the same processes in place but i am not a production potter, just observant.  whatever seems logical is probably right.  there are lots of beginners who do not think about what is happeningright now, what seems logical to do next and what will be the outcome if they try something else.

 

 why can't we just trust our better judgment and get on with it?