The clay is first shoveled into 5 gallon buckets by yours truly...under the watchful eye of my supervisor (pictured below on the left).
It is then emptied into our blunger which was designed by and Amish man. It is a 55 gallon drum with a motor and auger attached. The blunger is filled to the three quarter mark with water and then the secret ingredients are added.
After the clay has mixed for an hour or so our sump pump (which was carefully designed by our engineering team in New York) us lowered into the barrel....
and the clay is emptied into the drying beds. Repeat the process 7 more times and sit back and wait. As they clay dries it is gradually moved into the pottery where it awaits the pug mill.
5 comments:
how often does this process take place?
Brandon.... we do this about 4 times a year. Each throwing cycle we go through give or take about 1 1/2 loads of clay. Each load being eight 55 gallon drums worth of slip.
What a great set up. The clay in the field by my workshop is fantastic and I'd love to start processing it at some stage soon, so it's interesting to see your photos, thanks.
doug, let me know if you want any more details or photos. It is a good system but is very labor intensive. Ive got some ideas for when I have my own place. ie a larger blunger and instead of using a pump just have the blunger higher than the drying beds and let gravity do the work.
It sure looks hard work. It's frustrating where I am at the moment because I haven't any spare space and I don't own the land. Devon is rich in all sorts of clay. The stuff from the field beside my workshop fires up a beautiful terracotta and flashes really nicely in the kiln. I used to use a local clay until the pit closed but I want to have truly local clay. My five year plan is to set up a new workshop on some land with a good seam. Whether it'll happen is another matter, but it's good to have a dream. I like the gravity feed idea, it makes a lot of sense.
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