Drying room

[Bill Kielb]

12 hours ago, Babs said:

Posibly thought " topless potters."....

It is true about the lids, for a few months for various odd reasons I lost lids to the pots I made. The rest of the topless accounting was a light hearted joke created by members in the studio surmising what could be done with the bottoms. It grew into the topless pottery marketing approach. Just a little fun.

[Pyewackette]

On 1/27/2023 at 11:37 AM, Hulk said:

For slowing, I'm still using 2.5 quart, 2 gallon, and 5 gallon (for big wares!) containers inverted over each ware.
A periodic misting with a spray bottle slows things down - indefinitely, if desired, just watch for mold!

Putting all the ware to be kept moist in a damp box can be more efficient, however, I'll typically have less than a dozen pieces in damp state - with the individual approach, I can bring each along to "ready to trim" state separately.

Hey, that's a great idea!  If I want a wet box I can dampen my hardiebacker ware board and partially wrap with plastic, set my piece or pieces on it, and cover them with an upside down tote!  If I want a dry box, dispense with the dampening and the plastic!

Great!  No heavy damp/dry boxes to tote around!

I've got a big roll of heavy duty clear plastic that I'll be using to solarize my new garden beds wherever we end up.  I can just recycle that.

Edited February 15, 2023 by Pyewackette

[Pyewackette]

I just want to add, if its not been said already, that its not just drying fast you should be concerned with.  More, drying EVENLY.  Its worth it to take an extra day or two for something to dry to make sure it dries evenly.  Hardiebacker ware boards help me a lot with that - I can wet them down to slow drying down or leave them dry when that's not necessary.  I like to spritz the hardiebacker ware boards a little even so, so it doesn't immediately suck all the moisture out of my base. 

I still use bags when drying so I can control the drying process.  Yes it slows it down - but it guarantees that I don't get something drying too fast or on one side faster than the other.  I'm working in a studio in dry Tejas that has fans going all the time in the room where things sit to dry.  NOT covering something that is nearly leather hard is a great way to mess your stuff up at the very last minute.

One way to handle the impatience is to simply work on something else all the time, so you have a continuous stream of stuff that is drying and stuff that is new and stuff that is ready to move to the greenware area awaiting the next kiln load.

Edited February 15, 2023 by Pyewackette