I love the sign that reads, “No grumpy people.” I love watching people carry out flowers I had never seen before. I love the produce and freshly baked bread that my husband collects while wandering. I love the little old ladies dressed to the nines. I love the musicians—good and bad! I love the insanity, like when the man we call Shower Cap Guy shouts about not having enough bubble gum. I love the shiny, well-maintained old cars parading about. I love the vehicles that have plywood parts, windows made by cutting a hole in the sheet metal, wheels that don’t move or have a bit too much of a wobble, or make a sound that probably should stop once the engine has been turned off. I love observing the politics of navigating the parking lot from the outside. I also like guessing which niche of Christianity will be proselytizing for the day. Yesterday, we got Harold Camping.
Some of the stuff I make feels a bit slutty; I’m gluing magnets to test tiles so that people can buy something inexpensive. Yep. That’s the biggest disadvantage to being a ceramist who sells at farmers markets.
I have been having issues with my clay recently. I have used Amaco’s white stoneware almost exclusively for a matter of years now. I did have a stint with Rovin’s low-grog stoneware, but it wasn’t low-enough-grog. Amaco sells this particular clay pugged and de-aired, in two 25-pound bags per box. That is, the clay is ready to use. I generally buy 100 to 150 pounds at a time quite regularly.
In January, I bought a batch that was completely deflocculated. It wasn’t clay. Working with it was like working with some kind of quicksand Jello. I hate blaming my tools, and so I was determined to make it work. So what if it won’t hold its form? So what if it doesn’t dry? HOW DOES CENTERING AND WEDGING CREATE AIR BUBBLES?!
I took it back and exchanged it for another batch. It’s clay, but it is still lacking flocculants. In order to get the clay workable, I added old dry clay. I cut the blocks in to little pieces and let the pieces dry a bit. I wedged and wedged and wedged and mixed and wedged. I was, essentially, using this new ready-to-use clay to reclaim and extend the old clay from failed pieces. I was grumpy.
My current experiment is borax. Anhydrous borax is a flocculent, and the laundry booster might just work. The small amount of clay I’ve tried it with has oxidized quite a bit, but I’m not convinced that’s it’s a good enough reason to stop doing it.
Experiments!
If you know anything about the Amaco white stoneware situation, I would love to hear it.
In the meantime, I’ll see you at the market!
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