View Larger Image Tips and techniques in our weekly series "Great Ideas for Potters" come from all levels of experience: studio artists, production potters, students, teachers and industry experts. Photo courtesy of Craig Jewell, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

August 17, 2007

Tip of the Week: Don't Let Mosquitoes Bug You

by Ceramic Arts Daily | Read Comments (0)

Each week, we provide you with a selection of helpful hints and ideas drawn from suggestions submitted by Ceramic Arts Daily subscribers and Ceramics Monthly readers. Some are quite serious (especially those directed toward health and safety precautions), while others are more lighthearted. Each week you'll find ideas for forming processes, decorating, glazing and firing, along with tips for outfitting your studio and creating and using tools.

Tip of the Week, submitted by Jim Cullen
It's mosquito season! Watch those buckets of standing water for slaking clay—they are breeding grounds for those pesky mosquitoes. Pour a half-cup or so of hydrogen peroxide into the bucket. It won't affect the clay, but it will kill the larvae. Thanks, Jim!

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Other helpful tips

• There's nothing as frustrating and annoying as skillfully manipulating 25 pounds of clay into a gorgeous pot only to watch it self-destruct as it dries, or getting it through the bisque only to have it crack in a high-fire kiln. Uneven drying is usually the culprit, but with the following technique, you can keep those cracks from occurring. All you need are a spritz bottle, a sponge, and a clamp- or swing-arm lamp with a 100-watt bulb. After throwing a large platter, bowl or other wide-bottom pot on a bat, take it off the wheel and place it under the lamp. Adjust the light so it illuminates mostly the bottom, but don't put the light so close that it creates a hot spot. Dry the bottom to leather hard by leaving the light in place for about an hour or two—maybe longer, depending on the humidity, size and thickness of the piece. Once the bottom is leather hard, cover the pot well with plastic and let the moisture content even out overnight. By morning, the pot will be uniformly leather hard and ready for trimming. Leave the pot out for final drying or place it under the lamp again, playing the light over all surfaces while watching to ensure that any one area doesn't dry too fast. If uneven drying does occur, use a light water spritz to even it out. A word of caution: Take care when moving larger pots, particularly in the leather-hard stage, as mishandling may cause cracks.
• To help keep the lips of wheel-thrown pieces from distorting while manipulating the walls, use rings made by cutting the center out of the plastic lids from yogurt, sour cream or coffee containers. A variety of sizes are available at the supermarket. Placing the ring over the lip of the piece will maintain its circular shape, while allowing access to the inside.
• To avoid glaze waste, wash glaze sponges, brushes and mixing tools in two buckets—one for white/light glazes and one for darker glazes—rather than under a faucet to all go down the drain. Let the water settle and pour it off, then add the residue to light and dark "shop" glazes. These shop glazes are adequate for inside planters, vases, etc.
• If you need a relatively small amount of grog every now and then, just grate a lump of clay with a cheese grater, using the face that will yield the desired particle size. This is usually easier when the clay is somewhat dry. Let the grated clay dry for a few hours, then crumble as needed, put in a bisqued bowl and fire in your next bisque or glaze load.