Preserving paperclay?

Hi guys

Got the recipe for paperclay from my teacher on Friday and mended my
low-fired pot with it tonight. But I have lots of leftovers. She told me
that paperclay goes "off" pretty quickly, but if I dry it out, would it then
be preserved until the next time I wet it - and the next?

Marianne

Yep it would probably work. I have heard of people putting a little bleach
in paper clay which will keep it from going off quite as quickly. Only a
little bit though.

"Bubbles" wrote in message
...

Hi guys

Got the recipe for paperclay from my teacher on Friday and mended my
low-fired pot with it tonight. But I have lots of leftovers. She told me
that paperclay goes "off" pretty quickly, but if I dry it out, would it
then be preserved until the next time I wet it - and the next?

Marianne

In article , Xtra News Annemarie
@nospam.annemariebutler.com writes
Yep it would probably work. I have heard of people putting a little bleach
in paper clay which will keep it from going off quite as quickly. Only a
little bit though.

A drop of a good strong household disinfectant would also work. The same
technique is used to preserve Brush-on glazes as they contain an organic
Polymer as part of their makeup. We used a formaldehyde based
preservative at work, without that they went *off* very quickly!

Several Paperclay workers I know make it up into thin sheets which they
dry out until they're ready to use them. Wetting them up brings them
back to a usable state quite quickly.

Steve
Bath
UK


"Bubbles" wrote in message
...

Hi guys

Got the recipe for paperclay from my teacher on Friday and mended my
low-fired pot with it tonight. But I have lots of leftovers. She told me
that paperclay goes "off" pretty quickly, but if I dry it out, would it
then be preserved until the next time I wet it - and the next?

Marianne




--
Steve Mills
Bath
UK

If anyone is worried about using strong bleach or houshold
disinfectant, a drop or two of 'Milton' fluid should do the trick; I
believe there has been some research into the mould that forms on
paperclay and they discovered that it can have some harmful effects, as
Steve says it's best to let it dry in sheets for storage (even with the
bleach it can get a bit 'wiffy'). Just one more word of caution; take
care to ventilate well if you fire large amounts of paperclay the fumes
are not good for you!
Having said all that, it's fantastic stuff and you need obey few of the
usual rules when using it, Iv'e just started slip casting with it and
have had some good results.
Andy

try graduating to saw dust clay one day!

i mixed up a batch of saw dust clay two weeks ago. prior i have made
saw dust clay using coarse *pet bedding* pine wood chips. the batch
hand built great, but because of the coarseness of the wood chips made
cutting & drilling holes awkward.

it smelled great all the way until the batch was gone! nice pine
forest. fires out & leaves a nice texture & LIGHT pieces.

i made another batch a few weeks ago using FINE saw dust. the stuff
drawn off the sander via a vacuum. i can't dicern the saw dust in the
clay except for the way it breaks when i tear it. it smells great &
cuts, drills easy. ~ also throws well to some extent... get what they
call "milk dust" from a local woodshop. it sloshes around in a bucket
like milk.

i made it in the pug mill & it's about 50-50 by compacted volume. ie -
the wet clay volume doubles when i add enough saw dust to the batch. 2
buckets wet, get 4 buckets with saw dust mixed in.

see ya

steve