Hi there
Thanks for popping in. Busy Monday. Always starts well in the SHAC, and today was no different. What a great way to tee up the week, with a lovely bunch of like-minded buddies, doodling and colouring in our Hippy Chicks! If you missed it, then you can always catch up here:
You may have caught me telling you about a pottery breakthrough I had yesterday. Well, #madeinmay friends! Sunday was a big day in the life of Barb the potter! Let me explain…
Years ago, when I started tooling up and collecting all the things you need if you want to have your own pottery studio, we invested in what’s called a PUGMILL. What is a pugmill? I hear you ask. Well, it’s like a giant mincer, if you like. Before you can use clay, you have to wedge it, knead it, warm it up and get rid of all the air-pockets. But it’s hard on the hands, the wrists, the elbows and – most of all – the thumbs. So I never really have been able to wedge as I should, so to speak. Here’s where the Pugmill comes in. It kneads and wedges the clay for you. Quite simply, you put the clay in one end, in the feed-chute, and pull down on a lever, pushing the clay through a cavity with a huge screw in it. The screw kneads and folds the block of clay, and spits out a perfectly wedged clay sausage. If you’re quick, you can even figure out how much a 4 inch sausage length weighs (1lb exactly), and wire it off as it comes out of the pugmill. Saves massively on the wrists – and weighing the clay! Also, it’s great for re-cycling clay. You collect all the offcuts, the bits you don’t use, keep them damp, then push them down the chute to remix.
Anyway. This old pugmill has been sitting in the corner for a few years now. We bought it second hand, and it needed a good clean. Was full of dried out, cruddy clay. Long story short, we never got round to it. It’s a performance, and we just never found time for that particular performance – until Saturday. I asked Dave if he might help me with the pugmill, because I was gathering a fair bit of scrap clay, and it would be good to recycle it. Also, I thought we might try the wedging trick, because my thumbs are hurting something chronic…
Dave took it apart, gave it a good clean, and we fed a huge fresh pack of flecked clay down the chute. It takes quite a lot of clay before the sausage appears, I can tell you! Are you getting a picture yet? Let‘s see if the picture in your head is anything like the thing in our garage!
Ready to see Dave in action? This is golden….
Anyway, where was I? Ah yes. The game-changer. Loads of one pound clay balls, all neatly wedged and rolled, ready to throw on the wheel within minutes (there are about 20 more on the shelf behind me, ready to go too.)…
And that’s when the magic happened. WHAT A DIFFERENCE !! I never would have believed it. I had heard that pugmilled clay is good and even, and excellent for throwing, but I’d NEVER have believed HOW different! I was able to throw twice as fast and twice as tall instantly. The clay body was less wobbly, it felt firmer, it seemed to shape better. AND NO AIR POCKETS. Honestly, to anybody who is setting out on a pottery journey, the pugmill is a game-changer. I suppose it helps, having learned the manual way, having wedged and pounded the clay by hand, to really appreciate the difference. But it really was astounding. I had been avoiding the wheel, because I just couldn’t seem to get any height on my bowls, and even centering the clay had become a challenge. Yesterday, bang in the centre every time, and up went the walls. I couldn’t quite believe it. Kept thinking I was on a lucky roll. But pot after pot, bowl after bowl, they just kept doing what I wanted them to do. I was bowled over!! 
So much so, that I am going out tonight, to try again. I’ve got a lot of clay rolled up into balls and waiting!
I know. Don’t say it. ‘Why did you leave the old pugmill in the corner for years?’ I’ve been asking myself the same question all day. Same reason there’s an all singing all dancing sewing machine upstairs, still in the box. T I M E and F E A R. You think you won’t know what you’re doing, so you don’t even try.
Gottago! Gottaloadaclaytothrow!
Love always
Barb x x x