ApprenticePotter89999 Posted December 7, 2018 Report Share Posted December 7, 2018 Greetings good people please help me. I am an apprentice potter who's master works almost exclusively in porcelain and I've stained her plaster wedging table with a completely different clay body. I don't know it's name but it's a red clay, much stiffer, which fires to cone 11 where her porcelain is fired to cone 6. Is there a way to clean the pigment out of the plaster, and if I can't is there a risk it will contaminate her white clay in the future, will the pigment dredge up out of the plaster as she wedges? Part if me thinks it's harmless but I'm afraid I've ruined her table. When I've made reclaim in the past white crystals have formed on the surface as the plaster dries, will the red remove itself that way if I add water to the affected area? I really don't know what to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted December 7, 2018 Report Share Posted December 7, 2018 It's gonna be stained. I'd let her know so she can decide what to do, could be as simple as sanding that area off and burnishing it. Whatever you do though, don't try to hide it or fix it. You might only make things worse. I use different boards for different clays because this red clay I have stains everything it touches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted December 7, 2018 Report Share Posted December 7, 2018 I suggest you use a stiff blade like a 5-6 inch STIFF putty knife-You can scrape the top surface off and this should get down to clean white plaster.Only the top thin layer will have iron in it. Scrape it off and then clean up with a damp sponge-or vacuum the dust. I use only porcelain as well-I have a separate plaster wedging table for iron bearing clays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted December 7, 2018 Report Share Posted December 7, 2018 Scrub it as well as you can with a brush and water. Any red that has stained it probably isn't going to come off in her porcelain. And if she's firing in oxidation, the incredibly tiny amount that would get into her porcelain would never show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ApprenticePotter89999 Posted December 7, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2018 Thank you, I'll definitely have to talk to her, I'm just not looking forward to it. It was a pretty dumb mistake. As long as I know it won't have an effect on her work I think we can deal with fixing the table with no problem, my main concern was that it may change the color of her clay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Min Posted December 7, 2018 Report Share Posted December 7, 2018 Can you just flip it over and use the other side? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ApprenticePotter89999 Posted December 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2018 That definitely wont be possible, it's a maybe six or seven inch slab pored into a wooden frame table. It's not going anywhere, and I'm honestly not excited about the idea of shaving it down either as the lip of the table already comes up to the surface of the plaster. My current dream is that she'll say it's ugly but harmless and tell me not to be so dumb in the future. Thank you guys very much for your advice, this was a source of panic in my life. I feel like I should explain that I still haven't seen her about this and that that's normal for us, she has a dayjob that keeps her out of her own studio and it's rough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted December 8, 2018 Report Share Posted December 8, 2018 My table is 6 inches thick as well so taking 1/16 off with a knife is no big deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted December 8, 2018 Report Share Posted December 8, 2018 If you're going to take on an apprentice, you have to expect things to happen. Don't fret too much. It's not a deal breaker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.Banks Posted December 8, 2018 Report Share Posted December 8, 2018 3 hours ago, ApprenticePotter89999 said: ...this was a source of panic in my life. On the list of things that can go wrong in a studio this is kinda' minor. Our brains will tend to make a situation worse when left to over analyse - at least mine does. Maybe try a thin slab of porcelain on the plaster to take up some of the iron - you could use both sides and see how much or little it leaves behind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted December 8, 2018 Report Share Posted December 8, 2018 1 hour ago, C.Banks said: Maybe try a thin slab of porcelain on the plaster to take up some of the iron - you could use both sides and see how much or little it leaves behind. I think that's a great idea. To go even further, pour some porcelain slip on the table. Once it's set up and you can peel it off, it should take up any remaining red clay. But I think just wedging a bit would probably do the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kielb Posted December 27, 2018 Report Share Posted December 27, 2018 I scraped ours, power sanded and air file finished new. Took all the old apprentice gouges out also. Proper ventilation and dust control though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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