In My Studio

I really haven’t talked too much about me or my art since this blog was started and a lot of people have asked me why. Well, I don’t know why so I’ve decided to start a new category called “In My Studio.” For those of you who do not know, when I’m not working at News Channel 8 I’m usually at my studio making pottery or just making something. This past weekend I got a lot done. Seems like I’m always cleaning but I did do some other things as well.

First of all I finally finished my mini slab roller. Actually, this was a prototype of a bigger one that I want to make but I made this table-top version out of materials I had on hand. I’m not sure how much it would cost to buy all the materials but I’m guessing anybody can build this mini slab roller for under thirty dollars. I used scrap wood that was laying around in the shop, I had scraps of canvas that I had on hand, and I found a used piece of 3-inch PVC pipe for the roller. I did have to buy the PVC end caps. They cost about 4 dollars a cap. Basically it is self explanatory–cut everything to length, staple the canvas to the surface, screw on the rails and fill the PVC pipe with sand. This adds weight to the roller and makes rolling out the clay a bit easier. My next slab roller will be much bigger and incorporate rack and pinion on the rails.

I also had an opened bag of plaster sitting on the studio floor so I decided to make a couple small reclaim slabs. These plaster slabs really help reclaiming wet clay slurry into workable clay in relatively a short amount of time. These slabs will problably make wet sloppy clay workable in about 24 hours. They also serve as nice little wedging tables. Once again, I had all the materials on hand so I didn’t have to buy anything for this project.

I did have to buy something to build this photo shoot table. I really didn’t need to build this table but I just wanted to have a nice table to shoot my pottery on. I had to buy five 2 by 4s from a local lumber company that cost me just over eleven dollars and I’m still going to have to buy some gray latex paint to finish the surface of the table. I’m guessing that will cost me about 12 bucks. Not bad for less than 25 dollars. Oh, I did have the 4 by 8 sheet of masonite on hand and I actually cut about a foot and a half off the total length. If you had to buy the masonite it runs about 10 dollars for an 4 foot by 8 foot sheet, 1/4-inch thick.

And finally, I tried out one of the reclaim slabs and threw some coffee mugs with the reclaimed clay on the wheel. All in all it was a great weekend and that is what I did in my studio this past weekend.

To see photos of my finished projects click here or on the photo above.