Reclaiming Scraps

[Sandi0720]

Do I have to dry my stoneware scrap pieces and make them into a slip etc or can I re-wedge them right away and put them through my slab roller and use the slabs?  Will I have problems with the memory of the clay?

Thank you,

Sandi

[JohnnyK]

You can probably re-wedge them right away, but that maybe a little messy depending on how wet they are. If they are too wet, then making slip would be the way to go. How are you collecting the scraps?

[Hulk]

"...can I re-wedge them right away and put them through my slab roller and use the slabs?"

I believe so.
Given the clay is close to your ideal softness, and you've wedged the clay thoroughly such that its moisture level is even throughout, no bubbles, lumps, et cetera

"Will I have problems with the memory of the clay?"

I don't believe so.
Given, again, that the clay has been thoroughly wedged, such that the "memories" have overlapped several times, leaving you with clay ready to work!

Set up test scenarios and try it?
 

Managing the moisture level (how soft/hard the clay is), and mixing thoroughly are the keys, in my opinion.
What is required to get the clay ready, well, I don't find it worthwhile to "fuss with" small amounts, hence, bits go to the bin to dry out, slop goes to the settling bucket, and all await the next reclaim cycle*.

A few exception scenarios come to mind:

Where I've oops-ed a throwing, put the (too wet) clay on a plaster bat to dry it out some, then wedge it up (thoroughly!) and throw again.
  This doesn't take very long.

Where the small amount of clay ("lugs") I'm using to fix wares to the bat for trimming dries out, I'll flatten the clay, wet one side, then fold and flatten several times, until it's mostly homogenous again ...and keep using it for trimming.

Where bagged clay is too stiff/dry, I'll slice into slabs, spray water on both sides, then wedge it all back together, and repeat as necessary.
This is rather a pain.

Where bagged clay is too soft/wet, I'll wedge on a (dry) plaster slab.
This doesn't take very long, however, if the clay is very much too soft/wet, I'll let it sit on the plaster slab for a while, then wedge it up.

Hope that helps!
 

*Helps to have plenty of ready clay on hand!
I'm wetting the bucket of bone-dry bits/chunks with the (mixed) slop, then adding enough water - just, no more - such that my drill motor can turn the grout mixer without straining.
It takes a day or so for the water to penetrate the larger chunks...

Edited August 11 by Hulk
subject == verb; spellin'

[oldlady]

drying out flattened pieces of clay is only a simple wait until it is totally dry.  then wetting them is as hulk does, slurry first and a covering ofclean water, an overnight and hand wedging the result.  no machines necessary.

if you are in a hurry, just reuse the the clay as is.  you will come to learn what works with your clay and get used to an amount of control over the process.

to me, memory is a fairy tale.

[Sandi0720]

1 minute ago, Sandi0720 said:

Thank you!

Edited August 2 by Sandi0720

[Sandi0720]

5 hours ago, JohnnyK said:

You can probably re-wedge them right away, but that maybe a little messy depending on how wet they are. If they are too wet, then making slip would be the way to go. How are you collecting the scraps?

Thank you!

[Sandi0720]

3 hours ago, Hulk said:

"...can I re-wedge them right away and put them through my slab roller and use the slabs?"

I believe so.
Given the clay is close to your ideal softness, and you've wedged the clay thoroughly such that its moisture level is even throughout, no bubbles, lumps, et cetera

"Will I have problems with the memory of the clay?"

I don't believe so.
Given, again, that the clay has been thoroughly wedged, such that the "memories" have overlapped several times, leaving you with clay ready to work!

Set up test scenarios and try it?
 

Managing the moisture level (how soft/hard the clay is), and mixing thoroughly are the keys, in my opinion.
What is required to get the clay ready, well, I don't find it worthwhile to "fuss with" small amounts, hence, bits go to the bin to dry out, slop goes to the settling bucket, and all await the next reclaim cycle*.

A few exception scenarios come to mind:

Where I've oops-ed a throwing, put the (too wet) clay on a plaster bat to dry it out some, then wedge it up (thoroughly!) and throw again.
  This doesn't take very long.

Where the small amount of clay ("lugs") I'm using to fix wares to the bat for trimming dries out, I'll flatten the clay, wet one side, then fold and flatten several times, until it's mostly homogenous again ...and keep using it for trimming.

Where bagged clay is too stiff/dry, I'll slice into slabs, spray water on both sides, then wedge it all back together, and repeat as necessary.
This is rather a pain.

Where bagged clay is too soft/wet, I'll wedge on a (dry) plaster slab.
This doesn't take very long, however, if the clay is very much too soft/wet, I'll let it sit on the plaster slap for a while, then wedge it up.

Hope that helps!
 

*Helps to have plenty of ready clay on hand!
I'm wetting the bucket of bone-dry bits/chunks with the (mixed) slop, then adding enough water - just, no more - such that my drill motor can turn the grout mixer without straining.
It takes a day or so for the water to penetrate the larger chunks...

Thank you!

Edited August 2 by Sandi0720

[Hulk]

Let us know how it goes Sandi!

[Pyewackette]

If the clay is too wet then just arch it - make an arch and poke some holes into it with your fingers and let it sit that way for however long it takes to dry out "enough".  Then wedge it.

As for reclaim, over the past year I have discovered for certain sure that there is no need whatsoever to let the clay dry out before you reclaim it.  I have been taking all my scraps (of a particular type of clay, I work with 3 currently) and my slop water and keeping them in a bucket until I have "enough" to moosh it all together with my hands until I have a slurry-like lumpy mass.  Then I slap it onto the tiny (about 12x18) plaster block we have to suck excess water out.  I turn it about once an hour (pretty dry here in Tejas so ymmv) until it's "dry enough", then I wire wedge it.  I'm generally working with about 18-20 lbs of clay at a time, that's about all that will reasonably fit on the slab at the studio.  I can easily wire wedge this amount.  I could NEVER ram's head wedge that much at once.

Wire wedging doesn't care about lumps.  Wire wedging doesn't care about varying moisture.  Wire wedging doesn't care how much or little clay you are throwing at the table.  Wire wedging, in fact, doesn't care about much of anything except that you slam it into the table a lot.  My shoulders thank me for returning to my wire wedging ways.  I was taught to wire wedge 50 years ago and didn't know there was any other way until pretty recently, when I took classes in NC when we were living there.  Nobody there had ever heard of wire wedging and since they were all "experts" and I was still struggling to even have a place to work regularly, I bought in to the whole "rams head all the way" mentality and my shoulders and back have hated me ever since.

I slap clay by the handful onto the table, aiming the next handful to land as near to the last blob as possible, if its still pretty wet.  If its really wet I either return it to the slab or I arch it as above.  When its "dry enough" I form the mass up into a roughly box shaped blob, drop-slap it onto the table, turn it over, drop-slap it again, cut it, drop slap one half onto the table, drop slap the other half on top of that (I usually end up with a thinner edge and a thicker center so I match thin-to-thick when I slap the second half down), turn it and drop-slap the whole mass twice, then cut and repeat.  I'll reform the edges into a box shape if it starts to flatten out too much. I do this until I don't see any air bubbles.  Actually I go 4 times more to be sure the air bubbles are really all gone.  It really doesn't take all that long even for a decrepit broken down 5'2" old lady like me.  You don't even really have to throw the clay at the table, if there's enough mass just lifting it and dropping it will do the job - just takes a few more drops.

Then I form it up into a cone or balls or whatever floats my boat at the moment.  Usually I can throw with it immediately but sometimes its still to soft/wet for good throwing and I have to wait 3 or 4 days for it to sort of set up.  Again - dry here - ymmv. I keep wedged stuff in the plastic bags commercial clay comes in.

It may be important to note - I am a dry thrower so saving my slop water for reclaim is easy. I NEVER throw my clay scraps in my working water (where my sponge et al are). I keep a separate scrap bucket for that.  Eventually my working water (usually about 2 or 3 cups at start of day in a small bucket) gets goopy anyway (and cut in volume by about half as I add water to the clay I'm working), which so far always coincides with "I'm done for the day" anyway.  So I set that bucket aside and let it settle overnight, then pour off the clear water the next day.  I usually end up adding working water to this 2 or 3 days running before dumping it into my scraps (which I keep wet and never let dry out). If I feel it gets too much water to clay, I just leave it uncovered (a screen over top is a good idea to keep bugs out) to evaporate for a few days.  Haven't had to do that but - dry thrower.  If you have a lot of slop water at the end of the day, maybe more evaporation is in your future.  Currently I'm still pretty low output, maybe 6 or 8 pieces (sometimes a few more if they're all small) before I'm a goner for the day. I AM old so ... but I am getting faster and when I "use up" that 2 or 3 cups I started with I just set the goopy aside and start with a new bucket of working water.  SMALL bucket, 2 or 3 cups of water at a time.  Pour it all together at days end and pour off the clear the next day.

The only thing I'm planning to change about all this is I'm going to take to wrapping my wet reclaim in a pillowcase, in 2 pieces, to make it easier to turn it on the slab and cut down on how much time I have to spend cleaning the slab.  So 2 rectangular pieces about 9x12 (slab is roughly 12x18) wrapped in pillowcases. Just unwrap and wedge when its "dry enough".

I generate so much less dust this way its not even funny.  Also use a lot less "fresh" water, which is good practice for when I get my studio finally set up.  It won't have running water (unless you count me running water in in a bucket or dragging in a hose LOL!)

And my shoulders and back don't hate me any more.  If I had to ram's head wedge all my reclaim I would probably spend half again as much time having to recover.  Eventually I'd probably irritate one shoulder or the other into freezing up - I've had frozen shoulder twice on one side and once on the other.  Rather not irritate them.  Wire wedging all the way!

There is a Michael Wendt video where he demonstrates a way more complicated version of this than I am using (he calls it "stack and slam"), but its basically the same without all the counting and the making-sure-you-are-slapping-the-clay-down in a particular orientation.  Google it if you're not sure how this is working.

Currently I DON'T have a wire mounted but I use a stiff cheap cutting wire that I can lay down on the table and it'll lay flat and straight (my mudwire won't lay out straight easily but a stiff wire will) and its easy enough to just set the clay lump on top of that about midway and then just pull the wire up.

I swear, now that I've overcome my conditioning about ram's head wedging, I don't know why wire wedging ever fell out of favor.  Its so much easier, and easier on the body.  And at least for me, a LOT faster.

Edited August 16 by Pyewackette