(Almost Spring) Cleaning



Josey supervises the Great Studio Cleanup 2011

This past weekend, I took some time away from my latest sculpture to clean out my studio space.



Lacking the cabinets I would dearly love to have, this is about as clean as it gets, for now. I can walk without tripping over debris. There's a minimal amount of clay dust, because I washed down and mopped the floor.



Why is that important? I plan to work with clay for a very long time, and the thought of developing silicosis is horrifying. It's an occupational hazard for potters and other folks who work in clay for long periods of time, so I am really conscious of maintaining a low clay dust level in my work space. Dog hair is another, less harmful, matter! ;o)

I managed to go through a bunch of the "mystery clay" I had inherited from the guy who sold me my ceramics setup. The various clays were rock-hard, and though I can reconstitute them by throwing them into buckets of water and re-wedging them, the fact is, I only have so much space to work with. Taking up more floor space with buckets is just not worth it!

The neat thing about going through the old clay was finding the ones I am willing to reconstitute, i.e., the ones with actual labels on them! I ran across a cone 10 porcelain, which is a great find. Maybe I'll get to that later this year.

Meanwhile, I started playing with some new pumpkin pots for the upcoming season. Thanks to my new teacher, whom I love and wish I had known about sooner, I am now able to make some very simple lidded forms. Here's a picture of the ones I threw Sunday, unfinished, of course. They have to dry a bit before I can trim them and carve the faces. These will be Raku jack-o'-lanterns, so start saving your pennies for when they go up on my Etsy store!

More studio adventures to share tomorrow! (And let's face it, if I post about the studio, you won't have to hear about The Great Puppy Saga of 2011! ;o))