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Tip of the Day:
Slop buckets. There, I said it. I love my reclaimed clay and haven't afforded a mixer or a pug mill sooooo ..... We keep two buckets in the wheel throwing area dedicated to scrap and hand water. By the time one is full, all the particles are pretty well soaked and there's a good bit of water on the top. We found we like to dump in our hand water because it contains all those lovely, slippy, small particles that give the clay its elasticity. Anyway, as one bucket gets full and the other is starting to be used, it's time to pull all the water and super wet stuff off the top, put it in the other bucket and empty the rest onto a large sheet of plastic on the wedging table. That's where we mix it up really well with our hands, pulling out any obviously hard lumps (and of course, all those missing sponges). I let it sit that way overnight. In the morning, I move it by hand-fulls onto the plaster surface of the wedging table, spread it out about an inch thick and leave it there for the day. By the end of the day, it's ready to be peeled off the table. I slam it together into ten pound blocks and double bag it into old clay bags. Or, if I'm in a wedging mood, I wedge. Lovely.
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 Thursday, February 12th 2004
It seems I've always been interested in the didgeridoo. I had heard just brief references to it in television and world music in my younger years. The sound is captivating and of course, unique. The first time I experienced it live was in Atlanta, Ga in the early '90's. This cat was a really good player, don't remember his name. He had a stack of painted PVC didgeridoos he was selling on the street for $75 - $120. That struck me as absolutely nuts! I don't care what one could do with the tube, it's still just a tube and the art wasn't that kickin'.
Went right home and "built" one, partly out of spite. Saw him a few more times and he helped me get started playing. That was over ten years ago and when I started working in clay and realized I could make a tube by throwing a series of "donut" forms on the wheel and piecing them together, I thought "any tube will do!" And there it was, my first clay didge.
The clay didges have been in development for about three years now and it's been a wonderful tour of sound and form. Most challenging has been how subtle changes in length, width, bell shape, pinches, so many factors can make big changes in sound. It can be baffling. Just when I think I start understanding what does what, I'm usually surprised and find something totally different. But, just like in other realms of my work, the "surprises" usually work out to be better than what I've planned. The trick is integrating those surprises in the next time!
More on the process in future posts.
--Thomas Read More
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