Spring-ish Cleaning

So this is another one of those, "don't pull that loose thread!" posts.

You know, that thread that's actually chain-stitched? Yeah. That one.

Pottery is a messy endeavor. Clay gets everywhere, whether it's in the form of clay dust (which is extremely bad for your lungs), or in the form of slip, which is muddy clay. It's important to keep your work area clean when you're working in clay, just for the sake of your health, let alone keeping your tools in good shape.

There's also your "meez" to consider.

What's that? I may have mentioned this concept in a past post, but  "meez" refers to a chef's way of organizing his or her workspace before work commences. The proper term is "mise en place," or, "everything in its place." 

To quote the late, great Anthony Bourdain from his classic book, Kitchen Confidential:

“Mise-en-place is the religion of all good line cooks. Do not fuck with a line cook’s ‘meez’ — meaning his setup, his carefully arranged supplies of sea salt, rough-cracked pepper, softened butter, cooking oil, wine, backups, and so on. As a cook, your station, and its condition, its state of readiness, is an extension of your nervous system…"

Although some may feel that setting everything up ahead of time is a waste, I disagree. It's a major time-saver. I don't have to stop what I'm doing when I'm in the flow to look for one of my tools if I have them all laid out and clean. Clean, organized, and ready to go. That's my meez.

So, back to pulling on that thread.

I had thrown a few bowls last Saturday, and although I had uncovered them so they could dry before trimming when I took Grace out for her morning constitutional, they were still too wet to trim.

So while the bowls were drying and my laundry was going, I decided to do "a little tidying up."

The water was warm enough to wash my clay tools and bucket, so I gathered them up and as I was doing that, I thought I'd wipe down my wedging board. I put the bucket and tools near the hose and started wiping the board. And then I saw that the table cover and the benches were pretty dirty, so I thought maybe it was time to wipe them down, too. And I figured, well, as long as I'm at it, I might as well un-clamp my wedging board so I could thoroughly wash it, and then get the table covering hosed down, too, and then do the table and benches.

And then I thought, well, I need to sweep up the trimmings around my wheel from the last time I had a trimming session. And as I looked at them, I saw there were quite a few which had fallen behind my wheel, so I unplugged my wheel and rolled it away from the wall so I could sweep more easily.

And then I noticed quite a lot of clay shavings had been blown behind my dad's old wooden planter box by the gardener's blower, so I moved *it*, so I could sweep those up (plus the loose dog hair which blew under there, too). But to do that, I had to move all my throwing bats which were next to my wheel and leaning up against the planter box, as well as the ware boards I keep handy, too.

So I swept up as much as I could and pitched it into the bin, and saw that it *really* was time to wash down my wheel thoroughly, including under the wheel head. And it was time to wipe down the legs. And my throwing stool, too. And under the wheel. And the planter, wall and electrical boxes had clay splats which needed cleaning, too.

Then I pressure-washed the table. And the benches. And my wedging board. And behind the planter and wheel, which I then put back so I could wash down the patio. And the planter and wall, too.

And then washed the bucket and tools, as well as my wheel's splash pan. And then set everything to dry and started to put everything back where it went (after hanging the table cover on the laundry line for a good shot with the pressure nozzle and a going over with a sponge, plus a final rinse.

My meez was in place, y'all!

And man! Did that night's hot bath feel good? Oh, yes!

And after I trimmed the bowls a day or so later, I did this:

There's so much satisfaction in being inspired to create, and then just sitting down to do it without having to fiddle around beforehand with cleaning!

Here's to more days of meez!