QotW: How often & how do you clean up your studio?

[Pres]

Hi folks, I really haven't seen anything new in the question pool for a new QotW, fo I will pose one once more.

How often do you clean your studio, and in what manner?

I ask this question as I have a small very crowded one car garage that I use for a studio. Presently it stores most of my regular tools: drills, circular saws, miter saw, hand tools including hammers, wrenches, and other tools gathered over the years as I found need keeping up the house. I also have two kilns presently, a Brent CXC, and a wedging table, with all of the other items I use like hand tools, the new extruder, and various trimming chucks for use with the Griffin Grip.

Cleaning for me has become more of a cycle thing, throw a load, fire a kiln, and while firing clean up which means washing surfaces, sweeping floor, washing floor, and reorganizing tools, checking slop buckets for bag wrapping to recycle, wiping down areas with damp cloths to remove excess dust, and doing whatever else need done. Most of this is done with a full dust mask on, while wearing an apron, and lots of water and sponges. Troublesome, but for the small studio. . . needed.

I have found over the years, that much of my mess comes from wiping hands on myself, not cleaning up an area while using it, and not being smart about what makes messes. This knowledge has made me more aware of saving from making a mess by using sponges in work areas, using aprons more often with attached hand towels, wiping tools up right after use, and finding ways to keep better organized.

What tips do you have to pass on to folks in the way of timing your clean up and how you clean up?

 

Best,

Pres

[terrim8]

I didn't clean it (yet). I just ran away..........

[Callie Beller Diesel]

I try to work clean, because I hate doing the Big Clean. If you break the big jobs down into small bits you do as you go, it's not so overwhelming. I don't deal well with visual clutter that reads as a mess. I'm not a total neat freak or anything, but I don't like seeing a million unfinished tasks in front of me when I come into my studio. Surfaces are wiped pretty frequently to keep the dust down, and mopping gets done after trimming and glaze days. Hands are cleaned in a bucket before being wiped with a towel, tools are rinsed in a bucket after the throwing sessions and the major messes are wiped as they're made. I have to be really careful of dust, because my studio is in he basement, and I don't want the bad stuff getting sucked all through the house by the adjacent furnace. 

[Gabby]

I am naturally messy and so have to clean up as I go.  I wipe down with paper towels or sponges, depending on what it is, and I wash my hands and tools right after use.

My studio is in the basement, so I go straight to my utility sinks. 

[Pres]

No sink in my studio, lots of big buckets for water.

best,

Pres

[LeeU]

I'm someone who won't let three dirty dishes/pans pile up in the sink, but will build a high tower and low foothills all over the counter out of clean and dry dishes/pans. Studio is the same. I clean fastideously after most elements of doing anything...but dry tools will be piled up and falling off the drying shelf before I put them back where they belong. My latest cleaning tool is one of those "spin" mops. I really like it--mops up great and is so easy to rinse & put away. I use lots of water, the bucket system for pre-wash, plenty of towles, and I TRY to never let it go onto another day. I find if I leave a mess with the intention of getting to it "tomorrow", I have a 50-50 chance of ending up avoiding the studio all together. That is a pit I work to not fall into. It should be noted that I have low production and can spend the time doing it so often-----if it were a true working studio, I'd probably tend to it every few days or a week or so at the most.

[Denice]

I usually do a quick cleaning once a week and if I change colors of clay I do a thorough cleaning.   I also do a thorough cleaning before I glaze.  I need to clean right now but I had a frozen bottle fall out of the freezer and smash a toe  Monday.   Maybe today,  tomorrow  or the next day. . . .          Denice

[Pres]

Yeah, forgot about changing clay colors. My original wedging table is concrete covered with canvas. It has been used for brown clays for years. Now I have built a 3/4 cover of plywood with vinyl covered edges to place over top. This cover has edge boards underneath to set very securely over the original wedging table that is very secure. I use this new board only for white clays that I have been using of late. The SC 553 I did not like, but seem to be able to work the SC 630 quite well, even though I miss the tooth of the brown clays.

 

best,

Pres

[Joy pots]

I clean after throwing to keep the dust down.  If I sweep or rather drag the broom, I have a spray bottle in my hand to also keep the dust down I empty the trimming & clean up the floor after trimming, so I keep the studio as free from dust as I can.  The studio is a small room in the basement.  My sink & glaze area is in the furnace/laundry/hallway to the studio so any drips get wiped up immediately to keep my pup from licking them.  

I keep the studio washed up better than the rest of the house.  I do clean the rest once in a while.

Joy

[Joe_L]

Every time I get "artists block"

[yappystudent]

I admit to not having a studio cleaning schedule.