BlueChihuahuas Posted July 16, 2020 Report Share Posted July 16, 2020 Hi - I'm new here - and I didn't see this possibly addressed in other threads. I've recently moved to Florida. I live in an apartment, 2nd floor - and have a small covered/meshed lanei. I don't have a space inside for handbuilding. The local community is lacking in pottery studios, -2 options 1. Ceramics class (during the day and I work full time) no weekends and not allowed to bring in outside materials (i.e. glazes or in progress pieces etc) 2. Clays studio that is focused on classes - primarily kids on weekends and retirees on weekdays - but you can't rent a space and you are paying by the hour. It is too pricey for me to be able to go regularly :( - however, you can bring your greenware to be bisque fired (price is by pound) and bisque/glazed to be fired. What I would like to do (because it doesn't burn my pocketbook) is to make some at home, pay for some of the class time and have some fired from the class and pay the per pound as needed. That leads me to the questions about using my outside space for handbuilding. I've never lived in Florida, so I'm not sure what the humidity will do to an item that I am working on. I plan to bring in my drying/finished projects to the AC'd apt, but am not sure if I can leave in progress works outside and if so - how much covering should I do (for moisture vs debris). Anyone done something like this? Am I over thinking this? I appreciate your feedback! Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Beller Diesel Posted July 16, 2020 Report Share Posted July 16, 2020 Hi and welcome! I'm going to tag @oldlady on this one, because I believe she lives in that state for part of the year, and can speak about this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldlady Posted July 17, 2020 Report Share Posted July 17, 2020 hello, blue. where are you in the huge state of florida? you should have no problem working on what sounds like a balcony since it is on the second floor. actually, you can do handbuilding almost anywhere with the right equipment. first thing would be some kind of basic cloth so you can put it down, work as you like and bundle the whole thing up if you suddenly need to move it. i am thinking about a painters canvas drop cloth. i have several 4 foot by 12 foot ones from home depot or lowes. i am lucky enough to have a shed for my studio so i do not have the problem of possible rain or high wind hurting my work. you might want to get an enclosed cabinet to put outdoors and store your work inside that when you are not actually there. i am only there from december to late april. today the weather in my town was 112 degrees and i cannot imagine living through that kind of heat. sometimes i work inside where it is air conditioned but i do have one thing in my favor. i work on slabs that i texture and form inside various kinds of containers so i want my things to dry quickly. they are less than 1/4 inch thick. if you are a sculptor or work with very heavy or thick items, you might want to dry them more slowly. a plastic grocery bag placed over something will hold it until you get back to it. wherever you are, there are potters somewhere near you. you just need to find them, there is a wonderful gallery in st petersburg that sells work from all over the state. you might ask them for some names of nearby potters. actually, st pete has LOTS of galleries. will look tomorrow and let you know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueChihuahuas Posted July 17, 2020 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2020 Hi old lady, I'm near Venice FL. I like to make thin (less than 1/4") vessels and functional pieces as well. We had a pretty strong t-storm come through, so I'm going to rethink leaving items outside -not sure I can afford an enclosed cabinet yet. I think my downstairs neighbor would appreciate the drop cloth. I plan on using buckets for water and pouring the water outside down the storm drain. I am fortunate to have almost all the tools I would want for handbuilding - minus a North Star slab roller - alas I'll be using rolling pins. Thanks for the networking idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldlady Posted July 18, 2020 Report Share Posted July 18, 2020 so you are reasonably close to st pete. the gallery i mentioned is named Florida Craft Art at 501 central ave in downtown st pete. right downtown near all the great things to see and do. i forget that other people think that everything has to be bought in a department or specialty store. the cabinet i mentioned could be found in one of the very abundant florida thrift stores. the salvation army stores and others that are privately owned are usually better than any goodwill store. in addition, the habitat for humanity ReStores have donated building supplies including furniture. i got an office supply style metal cabinet about 6 feet tall from a thrift shop for about $20. that is what i was thinking of when i suggested it. venice is beautiful though very expensive for my budget, enjoy living near there. when the beaches open, you will have lots of places to enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueChihuahuas Posted July 20, 2020 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2020 I thought about the thrift stores and online apps for people selling stuff - but my main problem for that is fitting furniture in my car. So it has to fit in the back seat of an accord. I have a linen closet I can use for the time being. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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