"We are living on this planet as if we had another one to go to."
–Teri Swearington
Earth Day is just around the corner and EARTHDAY.ORG is planning three days of action starting today:
On April 20th, a youth climate summit led by Earth Uprising, in collaboration with My Future My Voice, OneMillionOfUs, and hundreds of youth climate activists.
On April 21st, Education International will lead, Teach for the Planet: Global Education Summit.
On Earth Day, April 22nd, running parallel to Biden's global climate summit, EARTHDAY.ORG will have its second Earth Day Live digital event starting at noon Eastern Time.
This week I'd like to share how I'm doing my best to help Mother Nature by being a responsible ceramic citizen. I'm going to start with my weakest point. I'm not above firing the kiln with a light load if there's a deadline to meet. With that confessed, I believe that a fully loaded kiln is a beautiful firing and endeavor to achieve that. Color development happens as the glaze kiln is cooling. A full kiln will cool slowly because of density, therefore making more gorgeous colors. Because I'm all about color, a full kiln is what I strive for. Having studio mates help. I can always get a few pieces in one of my studio mate's kilns if I need something in a hurry.
One of the most common ways to celebrate Earth Day is to plant a tree. Whether you're doing it just to do it or honor the life of a loved one, I hope you'll get a shovel and plant a tree of your own or donate to an organization that will. The Nation Forest Foundation is just one of many.
These are areas where I succeed at aiming high:
Recycling: I reclaim all my failed pots, scraps of clay, and the slurry from throwing. Ugly pots, clay scraps from hand-building, and aborted student projects are dried and placed in a bucket, slurry and water are added to rehydrate the clay. Once the bucket's full, I turn it out onto plaster bats to absorb the extra moisture, then wedge it up for reuse. Wedging is a kind of kneading that makes the clay more pliable, ensures uniform consistency, and removes air pockets before it's used for a project.
Dried clay scraps are placed in a bucket, water is added, when the clay is rehydrated, the mud is put on plaster bats to absorb the extra moisture. When the clay easily separates from the plaster, it's time to wedge.
Studio Waste: I keep separate buckets of water, one for clay and another for the glaze. The clay water is added to the recycling bucket. The next day when the clay has settled, I can siphon off the clean water for reuse. There are a few ways to deal with glaze chemicals leftover from glazing and clean up. One is to let the chemicals settle to the bottom, siphon off the water, let the chemicals dry, and throw them out. The other is to take the extra water off and test the combination of chemicals as a glaze. If it's pretty, use it, and if it's not, add some colorant to it and turn it into black. My technique for glazing makes such a small amount of waste I let it dry and dispose of it.
Avoid Toxic Materials: When I started in clay, you couldn't really avoid ceramic's harmful chemicals. Today they just don't sell them, or they come with warnings. The industry has developed processes that give you the advantages of using lead without toxicity. When we are using dry chemicals, we wear respirators and work outdoors. A few years ago, Ceramica opened in Cary. It's the only ceramic supply house in the area. I wanted to support the owners and sold all my chemicals to them. When I need a glaze, I have them make it up for me. The studio is practically chemical-free.
Reuse Broken Pot Shards: It is possible to recycle fired broken ceramics at both the bisque and glaze fired stages. A ball mill is needed to pulverize them into small enough particles. Bisque pots can be crushed down for use as grog in clay bodies, while glazed ware can be ground to a powder for reuse in glaze chemistry. Many studio potters don't have that access; it's easier to give the shards to a mosaic artist, reuse them at the bottom of a flowerpot, or use them in your garden.
Left over tiles from various projects imbedded in concrete bricks used to line a friends walk way.
Ranpak interlocking wrapping paper keeps items cushioned and locked in place while shipping.