clay production - cutting off expences

Hi all,
I am relatively new to ceramics and to this group, and I would like to ask
one question.
What is minimum of equipment required for clay production?
Scenario would be something like this: I get some clay directly from
deposit, and then what?

I live close to some first rate clay deposit, which is used by nearby brick
plant.
At deposit it can be found some first rate clay (so they say, and I believe
it is the truth).
There are red, yellow, white, grease?, sandy? (their terminology) etc..
clay at that deposit.
And what is most important, it can be purchased virtually free.

Therefore I have an idea to buy my own machinery and start to produce clay
for my new formed studio.
And perhaps for selling to others.

Based on what I found on Web, i think that I will be need something like
these:

1. ball mill ? or it is only pugmill enough?

2. pugmill
ie. Some 3" Venco De-airing Pugmill

3. Blunger
i.e.. some 15 gallon Blunger

4. An electrically operated screen
i.e.. Gladstone G135 Vibratory sifter

5. Filter press

And that is it. But I have feeling that some of enumerated items are
redundant, or
for minimum expenses that can be done functioning combination of 3 out of
5 enumerated above.
What do you think?

Thanks in advance,

MJ

PS and I am sorry for my very bad English, I just hope that it is not
annoying to much

wow.... big request.

what product do you want to make? and a classic business plan is to do what
you know, not what other people may tell you to do.

take a community college class for basic exposure to the clay-pottery world.
decide what you want to make, and the required materials will become more
obvious.

see ya

steve



Subject: clay production - cutting off expences
From: "MJ"
Date: 12/2/2004 1:11 AM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:

Hi all,
I am relatively new to ceramics and to this group, and I would like to ask
one question.
What is minimum of equipment required for clay production?
Scenario would be something like this: I get some clay directly from
deposit, and then what?

I live close to some first rate clay deposit, which is used by nearby brick
plant.
At deposit it can be found some first rate clay (so they say, and I believe
it is the truth).
There are red, yellow, white, grease?, sandy? (their terminology) etc..
clay at that deposit.
And what is most important, it can be purchased virtually free.

Therefore I have an idea to buy my own machinery and start to produce clay
for my new formed studio.
And perhaps for selling to others.

Based on what I found on Web, i think that I will be need something like
these:

1. ball mill ? or it is only pugmill enough?

2. pugmill
ie. Some 3" Venco De-airing Pugmill

3. Blunger
i.e.. some 15 gallon Blunger

4. An electrically operated screen
i.e.. Gladstone G135 Vibratory sifter

5. Filter press

And that is it. But I have feeling that some of enumerated items are
redundant, or
for minimum expenses that can be done functioning combination of 3 out of
5 enumerated above.
What do you think?

Thanks in advance,

MJ

PS and I am sorry for my very bad English, I just hope that it is not
annoying to much
















steve graber

I would recommend finding a ceramic supplier near you and pricing
everything out. It is better to buy locally then to deal with expensive
shipping rates.

MJ wrote:

Hi all,
I am relatively new to ceramics and to this group, and I would like to ask
one question.
What is minimum of equipment required for clay production?
Scenario would be something like this: I get some clay directly from
deposit, and then what?

I live close to some first rate clay deposit, which is used by nearby brick
plant.
At deposit it can be found some first rate clay (so they say, and I believe
it is the truth).
There are red, yellow, white, grease?, sandy? (their terminology) etc..
clay at that deposit.
And what is most important, it can be purchased virtually free.

Therefore I have an idea to buy my own machinery and start to produce clay
for my new formed studio.
And perhaps for selling to others.

Based on what I found on Web, i think that I will be need something like
these:

1. ball mill ? or it is only pugmill enough?

2. pugmill
ie. Some 3" Venco De-airing Pugmill

3. Blunger
i.e.. some 15 gallon Blunger

4. An electrically operated screen
i.e.. Gladstone G135 Vibratory sifter

5. Filter press

And that is it. But I have feeling that some of enumerated items are
redundant, or
for minimum expenses that can be done functioning combination of 3 out of
5 enumerated above.
What do you think?



I have no idea, what all you need to process your own clay, but my
feeling is that it is not worthwhile to invest in all that. If you have
local clay available, it is probably quite cheap and for the money you
would spend on the machinery you could probably buy clay for years and
years to come.
I buy clay locally and it is dirtcheap.

Monika


--
Monika Schleidt

www.schleidt.org/mskeramik
(If you wish to send me a mail, please leave out the number after my name!)

My clay preparation equipment consists of:

A couple of plastic Bins

a large paint stirrer on an electric drill

And 2 slightly tapered *Trouser legs* made out of non-organic material
and the means to hang them up.

Clay material is dried out, mixed with lots of water and a cupful of
Cider Vinegar (to speed up souring), sieved if necessary (40 mesh),
poured into the Trouser legs and hung up to dry.
When the clay feels a bit on the dry side on the outside it is a bit
soft on the inside, so wedging it will even it up for use. It will also,
thanks to the Cider Vinegar, be VERY plastic and excellent to use.

Total cost: not a lot!

I rest my case!

Steve
Bath
UK


MJ wrote:

Hi all,
I am relatively new to ceramics and to this group, and I would like to ask
one question.
What is minimum of equipment required for clay production?
Scenario would be something like this: I get some clay directly from
deposit, and then what?

--
Steve Mills
Bath
UK

Thanks Steve, that is exactly what I have on my mind.
I will try your approach, and with time perhaps buy some machinery.
One more question for you: Where do you find it and what kind is that clay?

In my case, clay is in deposit nearby, but this is a clay used for brick
production.
I think it will be good enough, but perhaps I will need some good sieve.

Thanks again,

MJ

On Wed, 8 Dec 2004 10:31:06 +0000, Steve Mills
wrote:

My clay preparation equipment consists of:

A couple of plastic Bins

a large paint stirrer on an electric drill

And 2 slightly tapered *Trouser legs* made out of non-organic material
and the means to hang them up.

Clay material is dried out, mixed with lots of water and a cupful of
Cider Vinegar (to speed up souring), sieved if necessary (40 mesh),
poured into the Trouser legs and hung up to dry.
When the clay feels a bit on the dry side on the outside it is a bit
soft on the inside, so wedging it will even it up for use. It will also,
thanks to the Cider Vinegar, be VERY plastic and excellent to use.

Total cost: not a lot!

I rest my case!

Steve
Bath
UK


My process is similar to Steve's, with a couple of
minor differences: First, I was never able to simply
dry out my garden clay and then add water to get
it plastic again. There were always lumps that
just never seemed to go away. I found I had to
dry it, then smash it up with a hammer and let
it dry some more (over the kiln, in my case).

I finally sieved the dry clay bits through an old
window screen. This had the added advantage
of removing pebbles and twigs. (Wear a mask!)
Then it was added to water and reconstituted nicely.

One further point that may or may not affect you:
My clay had lots of lime inclusions. Bits small enough
to go through a window screen were still plenty big
enough to cause lime pops. I ended up putting the
slip through an 80 mesh sieve to solve that. (I've
heard that a coarser mesh may be OK, but this worked
for me.)

After all that, it's too precious to use for bodies!
But it makes a dandy "Albany slip" glaze at cone 6.

Best regards,



Bob Masta
dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom

D A Q A R T A
Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis
www.daqarta.com

In article , MJ writes
Thanks Steve, that is exactly what I have on my mind.
I will try your approach, and with time perhaps buy some machinery.
One more question for you: Where do you find it and what kind is that clay?

I use this technique for any clay body I use. I haven't used it for
local clay for some years, but that was a local riverbank clay which I
now use as a slip glaze. Currently I make up a mix from powdered ball
clays and fine silica sand.
There is a large bed of very refractory clay along the edge of the River
Severn which is about 25 miles from here. A major brickworks use it, and
I use their bricks to build my kilns. I've taken it well over 1300oC. I
may well have a go at that in the near future, just for the fun of it.

Steve
Bath
UK


In my case, clay is in deposit nearby, but this is a clay used for brick
production.
I think it will be good enough, but perhaps I will need some good sieve.

Thanks again,

MJ



--
Steve Mills
Bath
UK

Bob Masta wrote:

On Wed, 8 Dec 2004 10:31:06 +0000, Steve Mills
wrote:


My clay preparation equipment consists of:

A couple of plastic Bins

a large paint stirrer on an electric drill

And 2 slightly tapered *Trouser legs* made out of non-organic material
and the means to hang them up.

Clay material is dried out, mixed with lots of water and a cupful of
Cider Vinegar (to speed up souring), sieved if necessary (40 mesh),
poured into the Trouser legs and hung up to dry.
When the clay feels a bit on the dry side on the outside it is a bit
soft on the inside, so wedging it will even it up for use. It will also,
thanks to the Cider Vinegar, be VERY plastic and excellent to use.

Total cost: not a lot!

I rest my case!

Steve
Bath
UK



My process is similar to Steve's, with a couple of
minor differences: First, I was never able to simply
dry out my garden clay and then add water to get
it plastic again. There were always lumps that
just never seemed to go away. I found I had to
dry it, then smash it up with a hammer and let
it dry some more (over the kiln, in my case).

I finally sieved the dry clay bits through an old
window screen. This had the added advantage
of removing pebbles and twigs. (Wear a mask!)
Then it was added to water and reconstituted nicely.

One further point that may or may not affect you:
My clay had lots of lime inclusions. Bits small enough
to go through a window screen were still plenty big
enough to cause lime pops. I ended up putting the
slip through an 80 mesh sieve to solve that. (I've
heard that a coarser mesh may be OK, but this worked
for me.)

After all that, it's too precious to use for bodies!
But it makes a dandy "Albany slip" glaze at cone 6.

That's exactly what i mean, if you go to all the trouble to make this
clay, it becomes more expensive than if you buy it from the people who
already have all the equipment to do so on a large scale. You also have
to consider the time you spend, which is probably better used to make
and sell pots, than to prepare your own clay. It sounds very romantic,
but is not really cost efficient? They have the knowhow and the
equipment, we know how to make pots. (If i want to sew a dress, i am not
going into spinning and weaving, i buy fabric and leave the spinning and
weaving to those who know how to do that.) If you make a dandy Albany
slip out of it, more power to you. That's great.

Monika
--
Monika Schleidt

www.schleidt.org/mskeramik
(If you wish to send me a mail, please leave out the number after my name!)

"Monika Schleidt" wrote in message
...
Bob Masta wrote:

On Wed, 8 Dec 2004 10:31:06 +0000, Steve Mills
wrote:


My clay preparation equipment consists of:

A couple of plastic Bins

a large paint stirrer on an electric drill

And 2 slightly tapered *Trouser legs* made out of non-organic material
and the means to hang them up.

Clay material is dried out, mixed with lots of water and a cupful of
Cider Vinegar (to speed up souring), sieved if necessary (40 mesh),
poured into the Trouser legs and hung up to dry.
When the clay feels a bit on the dry side on the outside it is a bit
soft on the inside, so wedging it will even it up for use. It will also,
thanks to the Cider Vinegar, be VERY plastic and excellent to use.

Total cost: not a lot!

I rest my case!

Steve
Bath
UK



My process is similar to Steve's, with a couple of
minor differences: First, I was never able to simply
dry out my garden clay and then add water to get
it plastic again. There were always lumps that
just never seemed to go away. I found I had to
dry it, then smash it up with a hammer and let
it dry some more (over the kiln, in my case).

I finally sieved the dry clay bits through an old
window screen. This had the added advantage
of removing pebbles and twigs. (Wear a mask!)
Then it was added to water and reconstituted nicely.

One further point that may or may not affect you:
My clay had lots of lime inclusions. Bits small enough
to go through a window screen were still plenty big
enough to cause lime pops. I ended up putting the
slip through an 80 mesh sieve to solve that. (I've
heard that a coarser mesh may be OK, but this worked
for me.)

After all that, it's too precious to use for bodies!
But it makes a dandy "Albany slip" glaze at cone 6.

That's exactly what i mean, if you go to all the trouble to make this
clay, it becomes more expensive than if you buy it from the people who
already have all the equipment to do so on a large scale. You also have
to consider the time you spend, which is probably better used to make
and sell pots, than to prepare your own clay. It sounds very romantic,
but is not really cost efficient? They have the knowhow and the
equipment, we know how to make pots. (If i want to sew a dress, i am not
going into spinning and weaving, i buy fabric and leave the spinning and
weaving to those who know how to do that.) If you make a dandy Albany
slip out of it, more power to you. That's great.

Monika
--
Monika Schleidt

www.schleidt.org/mskeramik

And any pot I make is far more expensive than what I can get from corning.
There is always down time in the studio when something like this can be
done. I just love the process itself. It really isn't that different from
recycling your unused clay only more fun because of the adventure involved.
Turns out there are also people that love to spin and weave the material
they used for making a piece of clothing more than doing the sewing (I
really like weaving and dread sewing). In pottery it is the entire process
I love - from wedging huge piles of clay on a cement slab by walking on it
to opening the kiln at the end of a firing.