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 QOTW: What tips do you have to make cleaning up your studio easier or more time efficient?


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Last week @kswanposed a question in the QotW pool. His post read:

QOTW: What tips do you have to make cleaning up your studio easier or more time efficient?

Some areas aren't too bad for me, such as keeping the footprint of my throwing area small, arranging things to close any gaps where clay bits can fall to the floor. I use a damp sponge to sweep little dry bits into a dustpan and then wipe the floor with a clean sponge. 

Unfortunately, I feel like I am chasing my tail some days, trying to get up all the little bits that fall off surfaces all day as I work. With the layout of my space, I can't condense the tables and shelves any more, so I have to walk from one area to another, which inevitably spreads clay around. One solution I'm doing now is to have a slightly damp towel on the floor to wipe my feet on as I move about. I check my soles time to time, and if they look dusty, I wipe them with a sponge and then try to find the section of floor that's dirty and wipe it too. It just feels like I'm spending half my time doing this. ANybody else feel this way or have solutions? 

Someone should invent a clay Roomba! I'd buy it in a heartbeat!

I would be second in line for that clay Roomba, but then I have so many things stored in the shop right now that I have to climb over things to get around. Renovations can play havoc with the shop!

Big Thank You to kswan for posting in the pool. . . it is always helpful!

Once again, QOTW: What tips do you have to make cleaning up your studio easier or more time efficient?

best,

Pres

 

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Good question!

Tools:
  Big sponges; buckets for yucky, cloudy, and clear water; commercial mop bucket, wringer, and mop; shop vac; mask; supply of clothing and rags.

Practices:
  Keep it clean; clear the floor to make cleaning it easy.

I'm trying to keep the dust under control because I
a) don't want to breathe it, and
b) don't want to track it into the house

Generally, dry clay is "bad," on account of how easily it becomes airborne dust (wet clay is, therefore, good); clay on the floor gets stepped on - bad!
Clean floors and studio shoes, that's a great start.
Dedicated (slip on) studio shoes, good idea.
Clean clothes and rags - change'm out when there's any clay on them.

Tips*:

Keep it clean - a few minutes before and after each session - becomes a habit.
Hit the work areas and the floor each time, and cycle through the shelves, and et cetera that collect dust as necessary - weekly, monthly, ?ly.
Wipe down all the dry clay (excepting, of course, the actual wares) - better yet, wipe it down afore it dries.

Use big sponges (big! e.g. grout sponge, car cleaning sponge) and big buckets.
I use one and two gallon buckets for throwing and clean up water.

Wipe down the work surfaces, routinely. You'll see where the dust is coming from - at the clay prep/wedging area, where the clay bags are opened and closed, where the clay is being worked, particularly trimming.

Get and use a commercial roll around mop bucket, ringer, and mop.
I pour off clear water and re-use it for cleanup.
The cloudy portion goes in the yard; the heartier plants can take it.
The wrung-out mop head makes a great foot wiper**.
Keep it ready and use it often.

Consider getting and using and use a shop vac, particularly if you have spiders, heh.
The vac exhaust will blow dust around, so put on your mask, open the doors and windows, run the vac, then wait on everything settling down afore breathing***.

Move storage off the floor, less things to move about for cleaning.
This may be challenging!
I have wall mounted shelves almost everywhere now.

Rags are bad, on account of they puff dust clouds, however, how else is one to dry their hands?
Hold the rag up next to a bright light; squeeze it - see the dust cloud? Put that in the wash and get a clean one, pronto.
Use the rag on rinsed clean hands only.
I do use towel rags in some of my processes - they get clay on them, so I start with a clean one and cycle them out afore they become dust spewers.
 

*Many of my (evolving) ideas and practices I came up with on my own, however, all my ideas (and more!) are not unique - see archived threads...

**Any time a job can be done without bending at the waist, let alone getting down on hands and knees, go with it! The wet mop is a super tool, sees lots of use in my studio. Wring it out, lay in on the floor, wipe feet, go. Run it around the wheel area, boom, done. Take a pass around the counter area when glazing, done.
...etc. etc.

***Dust and air movement = airborne dust. Be aware of air movement and plan accordingly.

Note: I looked, the "k" very likely represents Kathy, hence her post.

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Thanks @Hulk, you've got a lot of great practices and some I do as well! And yes, I am Kathy, hence she. No biggie, though. I'm kinda shy and don't share too much about myself! :) 

I change into my pottery shoes and clothes when I go down to my studio, and take them off before going back up. Having known someone with silicosis got me super paranoid about letting clay dust get into the rest of my house. The laundry is down there too, so it's very convenient to toss all my stuff in the wash. 

I also do sort of a triage system for my clean up water as well. It seems to make it easier than always filling and dumping out dirty water. One big sponge is only for clay surfaces like the wheel, slab roller, wedging table or bats. The other is for gross things like the floor, where dust blobs and dead bugs mix in with the clay bits.  When I spill glaze drops on the floor, I use a paint scraper to get it off and slide it into the dustpan. It's then easier to wipe the remains and not get my cleaning water dirty so fast. Otherwise, I feel like I'm just spreading it all over.  

I get overwhelmed by seeing large piles of things that need attention. Tons of tools and bats covered in clay that need clean up stresses me out, so I try to mostly clean those as I work, like wiping down my bats around my piece before taking them off the wheel. 

I'm afraid I have bad work associations with those industrial wringer mops, Hulk! I had a regular sponge mop, but it broke and I haven't gotten around to replacing it. I've got weird tight spaces and actually the big sponge seems to be just right for getting the floor cleaned up.  If I'm cleaning up a lot at the end of working, I wear my respirator and turn on the HEPA filter. I set it to turn off after two hours.

I'm taking a break from a large glaze session right now to drink more coffee. I've got to run two glaze loads before Friday, cutting it close for sure...

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my long bailey slab roller has become my work table of choice.  when i had it set up, it went onto a very thick all solid wood door.  several inches overhang in the back to the wall holds quart, pint and half pint plastic tubs on the left of the roller. they come from a chinese restaurant which sells them to me for fifty cents each.  i would buy from a restaurant supply house but they are all at least 30 miles away.

the right half space next to the wall holds very thick foam rubber cushion innards.  most of my things are flat and i use wood for the forms, cover them with pantyhose and press into clay and the rubber "pillows".   the foam comes up around the wood and forms the item.  the bottom is flat and when i transfer it to the shelf made of  5/8  inch drywall, the pantyhose knot is the handle allowing me to support it.

since the front side of the slab roller has about 3 inches of the table top, i have a space at each end, 8 feet apart, to put a box right next to the slab roller's flat surface.   and tiny bits go straight into the plastic box and is held there until i eventually vacuum the box clean.  since the box is screwed down, i do not have to worry about knocking it over in error. a slightly damp sponge slides the bits right over the edge and into the box.

the boxes are only 4 inches long so there is room left for long sticks to measure thicknesses.  they stack onto a single finish nail and run across the support side of the slab roller.  tools hang on nails all along the side of the slab roller table giving me about 6-7 feet of hanging tools used at the slab roller.  there are wallpaper scrapers to smooth freshly made slabs and cut long pieces of clay,  putty knives of various sizes, a pizza roller on each half and a ruler, cheese cutters and old kitchen towel at each end.  each tool is hanging under the edge of the tabletop and not sticking out to catch my jeans as i move along the table.  i can  "see" the tools easily because i have big black sharpie marks directly above each item.  so it is just reach under and pull out what i need and  put it back so the tabletop is always clear of tools.

if i keep the top clean, there is nothing more to do at the end of a session than put the last drywall shelf into the rack, pull out the damp sponge and wipe the tabletop.  BTW,  a thrift shop find of a metal butter dish top makes a wonderful damp sponge holder without smearing wet clay anywhere.

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I have no tricks, tips,  tools, or time frames that are  not already mentioned. The only thing I will add is just a reinforcement, a repeat, of what 

5 hours ago, Hulk said:

Keep it clean - a few minutes before and after each session - becomes a habit.

I clean as I go along, almost fanatically-as long as it doesn't disrupt the technical production process and/or my creative flow. I subscribe to the "a place for everything and everything in its place" mantra of my dad, even when that "place" is a jumble of "everything" in a bin or a basket--at least I know where it is and it is contained. Cleaning up when done and then revisiting it yet again the next time I enter the studio,before I get to to work, is well worth the double-check. 

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If you’ve ever worked in a clean as you go kitchen, if you have ADHD or you’re a primary care parent, you know that taking care of a small mess more often is  easier than cleaning up a big one later. But there’s a line between constantly wiping and being efficient with how you work. In kitchens, they tell you to clean up between tasks, with a good scrub (floor mopping) at the end of the night (work session).

I totally agree with Hulk, make it easy to do that cleanup regularly. Have a bucket and sponge handy to wipe surfaces with, and change your cleaning implement often. It’s easier to sponge out your splash pan while it’s still wet. It’s easier to keep your reclaim bucket next to your wheel when you trim, so you can empty the tray right into it. It’s easier to work in a way that trimmings or bits and blobs are gathered or wiped up easily, so they wind up in your reclaim and not on the floor. It’s easier to throw with only the water you need, so again you avoid spatter on the floor. 

 I usually wash my throwing towels and apron after they’ve been used for a session. Thrift store towels for the win!

***I have a pair of studio shoes that never leave the room. They go on my feet at the door, and get taken off at the door. Being really rigid with that is the big one. This keeps dust from getting tracked through your living space. I tend to clean my shoe soles when I mop, but I don’t wipe them otherwise.***

Mopping is the one that is a big job, and no avoiding it. I have a concrete floor, so I pour down about 5 gallons of water and wipe it up with my mop and wringer. BUT I have a system for that, a la KC Davis’s closing duties approach to cleaning.

Reclaim and trimming days, I mop immediately after, because usually I have more energy left. Glaze days, I know I’m exhausted after because it’s a longer and more draining day. Rather than leave myself a complete disaster though, I wipe the main surfaces,  put dirty glaze utensils/sieves/etc into a bucket of water so they don’t dry out, and I shut the door so that nothing is getting tracked out. When the kiln is firing/cooling the next morning, I go downstairs and do the thorough cleanup, including a mop.

Unless something gets really out of hand, I usually don’t mop after throwing sessions. My wheel area is set up so the spatter zone isn’t facing any pathways that I’d be tracking through while doing other tasks. I make very little spatter because of my throwing habits, so I don’t feel worried about leaving mopping for trimming day.

Edited to add: to avoid more spatter on reclaim day, I clamp a cloth over 2/3 of the opening to my clay bin. It makes for a LOT less wiping of walls due to the jiffy mixer. Again, just a piece of thrift store sheet.

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As I'm waiting for my second glaze firing to cool, I've thought about everyone's input here and how to make my life easier in the studio. It seems there is no silver bullet to studio clean up, for sure, it takes time and effort!

One thing I realized is that I need to keep my glaze in a larger container!!! My whole pottery-making life, every studio I've ever been in used 5 gallon buckets. In fact, I didn't even know that commercial brush on glazes existed until about 10 years into making ceramics. Sieves are made to fit on top of 5 gallon buckets. My glaze recipes are sized for buckets (though easy enough to size up or down). I make a huge mess when I glaze my bigger plates, bowls and platters, because I have to transfer my glaze into a different sized container. It's also more time consuming to do that. I'm now going to find the right size container for my glaze, so that it fits my large pieces that I dip but isn't too big. It's a light bulb moment for me.

I've also decided to get square buckets for my reclaim. Now that I have a pugmill, I don't need to use the Jiffy mixer on my clay to get it smooth for reclaim. The square buckets will snug up next to each other and won't let the little drips and bits fall in between. That's been driving me crazy. I have two reclaim buckets next to my wheel, one for more slippy stuff and one for trimming and dry pieces. Everything else is square around it-- my plaster slab, my tool bins, the table, so square buckets will close those gaps. 

Thanks everyone for your input, I appreciate it!

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Pres,   I have two programmed Roomba's that clean our main floor and one that cleans the basement.   I clean the hepa filter every week,  fine dust  is a big problem in my home (I wonder where it came from).   Irobot   made a garage Roomba at one time, it was suppose to big up objects like screws.  I think we are out of luck when it comes to a Roomba that can handle dust.   Denice

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Mark made himself a central vac system for his studio, so that it was vented outdoors and kicking up dust was a non-issue. Maybe overkill for a small basement studio, but still good to keep in the back of your head, I think.

Here’s the link to the old thread: https://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/topic/13995-central-vacuum-for-clay-studio/

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I use a Braava Jet robotic mop in the studio, made by the same company that makes Roomba.  I do pre-mop the biggest blobs of clay with a regular mop and bucket, and then turn on the robot mop to finish cleaning while I work on other thins,  For rags with clay, I keep a bucket under the sink in the studio filled with water and a bit of bleach,  Dirty rags go in there to soak.  After a day or two I carry the bucket outside, wring out the rags, and use the remaining clay water to water plants.  I will  repeat this with fresh water until the rags are mostly free of clay.

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I'd though a case would be made for fresh/clean air source and not so much cleaning, having seen many studios/workspaces in video clips (and a few in person) where layers of dried clay splash are ...ubiquitous.

The air currents in my studio are capricious, I'm not choosing to spend for and install a suitable hepa system, keeping the floor and work surfaces wiped down is straightforward and simple, I'm at a hobby level, etc., so.

I'm still curious how others (attempt to) measure or somehow quantify dust in the air?
Per (many) prior, I'm watching accumulation on horizontal surfaces. It takes a few months to build up a layer on the shelf just above my wedging area that compares with two days' accumulation at local studio X (where canvas covered tabletops and crunch underfoot is norm).

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