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The craft and pottery space

Painting was completed tonight. The pva drywall sealer blocked the bleeding from the osb print. I’ve started reinstalling the lights and installing electrical outlets. I’ll finish those tomorrow, since some are on the same circuit as the lighting,and I’m beat…lol
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I did also assemble the mobile tool base for the kiln, I still need to tighten all of the bolts/nuts. I need to wire wheel the base and repaint it with some high temp paint.
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Today was a lot of clean-up, finishing up electrical, and packing out trash.
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Removed the forms from the steps/stoop, didn’t turnout bad.
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Next up is some chipping away of the joints in the floor (some high spots) and pouring some self leveling patch at the entry, which is about 3/4” low.
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Railing should arrive tomorrow, but may wait a few days for the concrete to cure.
 
Started moving things in and putting things on the wall tonight.
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I dug the old wash tub out of the milk house at the barn. I was thinking she could use it as a planter outside, but she wants a drain installed in it to use as a sink, with a wall mounted faucet. I may build a framed panel to put her neon signs on and hide the cords behind it. The black panel next to the wrapping organizer is a glass note board. I have a table to move down from the guest cabin and another side board from my shop.

Amazon delivered a smoke detector and fire estiguisher today.
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Next time we’re up in KC we may pickup some Ivar shelving from IKEA.
 
If the fire is bigger than a desk waste can fire, you aren't going to put it out with that fire extinguisher, unless well trained in using a fire extinguisher. A bigger fire is going to need a bigger fire extinguisher. An inside water faucet and garden hose, kept inside (maybe in your shop space) and safe from freezing will help. How far away is your local fire company? If more than 15 minutes away, say goodbye to that building and everything in it.

Sorry, I have been to far too many fires in my lifetime, and know what it takes to be fire safe.

Charley
 
Charles Lent said:
If the fire is bigger than a desk waste can fire, you aren't going to put it out with that fire extinguisher, unless well trained in using a fire extinguisher. A bigger fire is going to need a bigger fire extinguisher. An inside water faucet and garden hose, kept inside (maybe in your shop space) and safe from freezing will help. How far away is your local fire company? If more than 15 minutes away, say goodbye to that building and everything in it.

Sorry, I have been to far too many fires in my lifetime, and know what it takes to be fire safe.

Charley
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Good info Charlie, and some things to consider.

Currently there is no water in the building. The water line does run directly behind the building about 3' from the back wall from the well head. My plan was to dig up the line next spring and tap into it and feed inside and add an yard spigot outside as well . We usually do have water hose outside the entrance, but obviously that will be disconnected over the winter months. I'm planning to line the kiln room, at least around the kiln with some old barn tin, maybe concrete board before we start using the kiln. I'm using a double wall pipe thimble to duct the kiln vent outside through all metal ducting, the floor will remain concrete in the room. It's probably where the highest risk for fire could start, but I'm also planning to use the garage side for my welding equipment and automotive work. So, we've somewhat decided that this is the one building that will be designated for hot work/projects.

I certainly doubt my wife will ever use the extinguisher herself. It's more for insurance purposes should they come by to review things, which happens every few years.
 
Charles Lent said:
If the fire is bigger than a desk waste can fire, you aren't going to put it out with that fire extinguisher, unless well trained in using a fire extinguisher. A bigger fire is going to need a bigger fire extinguisher. An inside water faucet and garden hose, kept inside (maybe in your shop space) and safe from freezing will help. How far away is your local fire company? If more than 15 minutes away, say goodbye to that building and everything in it.

Sorry, I have been to far too many fires in my lifetime, and know what it takes to be fire safe.

Charley
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Darren Wright said:
Good info Charlie, and some things to consider.

Currently there is no water in the building. The water line does run directly behind the building about 3' from the back wall from the well head. My plan was to dig up the line next spring and tap into it and feed inside and add an yard spigot outside as well . We usually do have water hose outside the entrance, but obviously that will be disconnected over the winter months. I'm planning to line the kiln room, at least around the kiln with some old barn tin, maybe concrete board before we start using the kiln. I'm using a double wall pipe thimble to duct the kiln vent outside through all metal ducting, the floor will remain concrete in the room. It's probably where the highest risk for fire could start, but I'm also planning to use the garage side for my welding equipment and automotive work. So, we've somewhat decided that this is the one building that will be designated for hot work/projects.

I certainly doubt my wife will ever use the extinguisher herself. It's more for insurance purposes should they come by to review things, which happens every few years.
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At least, get another, and hopefully lager ABC Fire Extinguisher to put in your shop. That way you have a second extinguisher, in case the first doesn't do it.

When using a dry chemical extinguisher It's best to invert it twice on your way to the fire. The powder packs down and won't all come out if you don't fluff it up a bit. Always point it at the base of the flames and sweep the fire away with it, and especially with a chemical fire, keep it from circling around to your sides. Pointing at the flames does nothing, you need to separate what is burning from the flames.

She is going to need water and a sink (a pretty large sink) for doing pottery. An outside faucet only works if not frozen, but you can keep the hose, empty, inside. With pipe insulation and a freeze proof cover or better yet, one of the freeze proof faucets that drain back into the ground when off. But I recommend the quick connect fittings so it can be attached quickly.

A 15 minute trip for the fire company to arrive will seem like an hour or two when you have a fire, if you had remembered to call them first.

Charley
 
I spent this morning getting the metal removed on the back of the garage where the old window used to be and adding some missing purlins and a couple that had rotted under the window. While I had the metal off, I cut the hole for the room vent and got it installed. It was a bit long, so had to fir out the location.
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I may replace the light switch that I have the room vent on with a smart switch, and setup a temp sensor in the room to kick it on automatically over a certain temp.

I then moved on to the kiln vent. I had planned to put it in the corner behind the kiln, but must have had some brain fog and ended up cutting the hole 2' off from where I had planned, which was to the left of the blue line on the wall. :huh:
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I barely missed the electrical box for the kiln (which the breaker was off for), but did nick it's cover plate.
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After contemplating my options I decided to go with this location, I just trimmed wall thimble plate around the electrical box.
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It turned out to be a good location, since the electrical for the blower is just above this location, and the cord I used to wire it with was just the right length, which it was too short for the place I was going to put it. Yeah, now that I think about it, I planned it that way...yeah, that's the ticket. ;)
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Had to trim down the outside plate for the thimble as well. not sure I really needed it as big as I left it, but oh well.
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The blower is rated at 140 cfm, which is what googling says the Skutt kiln vent uses. I'm using the Skutt Envirovent cup at the bottom of the kiln, Just need to finish sanding the top and bottom slabs, then drill the holes for the vent after re-installing them.

I have about $310 in the kiln vent. The blower/motor, 3" dryer vent, wall thimble, duct, and 3" flange cost me about $210, the Skutt vent cup, spring, and foot for it was $98. The full kits are available from pottery supply, but sell for $650 - $700, depending on where you buy it from and they provide "free" shipping.
 
The main projects today were the hand rail and hanging up her sign. I spent the rest of the afternoon packing out all the tools, moving a bit of furniture in and some of my things over to the garage side.
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I'll order some doors this week. I still need a door for my office and the finish room in the shop, and her kiln room door. I'll pickup base trim and casing as well when the doors are ready for pickup. I'll need to go pick through some barn tin behind the barn and see what I can find to use for lining the walls around the kiln. I also need to build window jamb extensions and add a bit to the exterior door jamb for trimming those out.
 
Put some time in cleaning up my network cabling, but need to build an enclosure for it in the front top left corner. She’s been getting things move over from her office, shop, and other places she has craft supplies stored.
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I’ve got a trip hazard to work on by the entry. A little chipping with my rock hammer and some self leveling patch to do. Probably will paint the wall curb by the door with some bright paint. It’s narrow enough it shouldn’t be an issue, but just in case.
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Picked her up some fresh clay and some mapp gas for her glass bead making.
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I was chatting with the folks at the pottery shop in town. We still have a good amount of the last clay we got from them. They told me to just put about 3/4 -1 cup of water in the bag, wrap it back up then put the bag in a bucket and fill the bucket with water. They said the water pressure will help push the water in the bag back into the clay to rehydrate it faster. Still need to wedge it all after it’s rehydrated to even out the consistency.

Was also looking to order new bead release agent, but seems kiln wash is the same stuff, so already have it on hand to use when she wants to start making beads again.
 
Darren Wright said:
I was chatting with the folks at the pottery shop in town. We still have a good amount of the last clay we got from them. They told me to just put about 3/4 -1 cup of water in the bag, wrap it back up then put the bag in a bucket and fill the bucket with water. They said the water pressure will help push the water in the bag back into the clay to rehydrate it faster. Still need to wedge it all after it’s rehydrated to even out the consistency.
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The wife says that is exactly what you do.
 
She was wanting a wedging table for the clay. I looked up plans for doing with one with a plaster slab or a canvas covered board.

She was leaning towards the canvas. Mostly there was a bit of warning against plaster as it can chip off and get into your clay body, and cause explosions of your pieces in the kiln.

Most designs were around 32” tall. I happened to get a Black Friday notification for a tool stand, which happened to be right at 32” tall. I showed it to her and she thought the size would work.
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It came with an mdf split top, which I replaced with a piece of butcher block counter top, left over from the guest cabin.
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I need to put a poly coat or two on the top to make it easier to clean with water. The lower shel should work well for storing clay, which adds some extra weight to the base too.
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The base has splayed legs which should help stabilize it when wedging as well.
 
Darren Wright said:
The main projects today were the hand rail and hanging up her sign. I spent the rest of the afternoon packing out all the tools, moving a bit of furniture in and some of my things over to the garage side.
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I'll order some doors this week. I still need a door for my office and the finish room in the shop, and her kiln room door. I'll pickup base trim and casing as well when the doors are ready for pickup. I'll need to go pick through some barn tin behind the barn and see what I can find to use for lining the walls around the kiln. I also need to build window jamb extensions and add a bit to the exterior door jamb for trimming those out.
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The concrete board, intended for behind ceramic tile, makes a good heat shield. You can use just it, or cover it with the tin, but it will do a far safer job of insulating the wall around the kiln. It's what I used around my mom's kiln. It comes in many thicknesses. I used 1/2".

Charley
 
My wife has run the gamut of surfaces for wedging.

She would prefer plaster but it would require two separate plaster surfaces, one for light and another for dark clay and we don't currently have the room. Plaster absorbs just enough moisture but not too much. She has used plaster at co-op studios and yes you need to maintain them to make sure you don't get particles in your clay.

She used cloth but again you can't clean them well and you need two separate surfaces for light and dark.
She tried finished wood surfaces but they were too slippery. Currently she is using cement board that we got at Home Depot. She likes that but it does tend to dry out the clay as you work it.

I have seen that many potters just use plain wood surfaces (plywood) without any finishing on them.

If we have room, when we build her a real studio we will probably go with plaster.
 
Bill Satko said:
My wife has run the gamut of surfaces for wedging.

She would prefer plaster but it would require two separate plaster surfaces, one for light and another for dark clay and we don't currently have the room. Plaster absorbs just enough moisture but not too much. She has used plaster at co-op studios and yes you need to maintain them to make sure you don't get particles in your clay.

She used cloth but again you can't clean them well and you need two separate surfaces for light and dark.
She tried finished wood surfaces but they were too slippery. Currently she is using cement board that we got at Home Depot. She likes that but it does tend to dry out the clay as you work it.

I have seen that many potters just use plain wood surfaces (plywood) without any finishing on them.

If we have room, when we build her a real studio we will probably go with plaster.
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We'll experiment with different ones. I've read the plain wood can get clay stuck to it, but see videos of potters using it just fine and looks to be easy clean-up. The canvas I used for the current board is a bit cheap, was from a drop-cloth, so may have to pickup some better quality canvas to do another. We may try to hit up a pottery supply in the city this weekend. I see they sell the #1 pottery plaster ($24 for 50lbs), so might get some to try molding a slab. I've seen several that use a medium sized plastic container for the mold, which tapers up and makes it easy to get the slab out.
 
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