Wareboard 101
So you’ve finished making a nice collection of pots, you cover them up to dry and put them on the ware shelves, and when you come back, disaster! They’re smushed, or they’re too dry, or maybe you can’t find them at all. What happened?! Here are my tips and tricks for covering pots to keep them safe and drying properly!
Let’s start with your wet, finished pot. How wet is it? Unless you’ve just covered it with wet decorative slip, carefully touch your pot to test it. If your finger sticks and comes back with slip on it, I would try to let this pot dry a little bit longer before wrapping it up! Remove unnecessary slip with a rib or sponge, and then put it under the lights while you clean up to remove some of the excess moisture.
*If your pot does have freshly applied decorative wet slip, an upside down bucket does a great job of covering, and protecting your piece while it dries!
*The bottom row of lights in the light box are a bit lower, so they will dry things a bit faster! You can also put your piece up on a chuck to get it even closer to the lights, or use a hairdryer/heatgun to manually dry it. Just be careful not to dry it out too much, too quickly!
Once your pot is no longer sticky to the touch, you are ready to store it. In general, you should try to move your pieces off of your bat and onto a wareboard as soon as possible! Why, you might ask?
Uneven drying can occur due to the bottom of the pot remaining on a saturated, wet bat surface
Bats can become warped due to the wet spot in the middle and dry areas around the edges
Pots may stick down to bats when left to dry on them and become difficult to wire/remove without cutting through the bottom
Round bats stored on shelves with square wareboards are more prone to getting bumped/poked with corners
* Nearly all pieces smaller than 6 inches in diameter can be moved immediately! In most cases, only large platters or plates should remain on bats to dry overnight or longer- because they’re low, flat and wide, it is not as hard on the pots or on the bats!
To move your wet pots safely:
Get your hands clean and dry, and whenever possible, remove all excess slip from the pot with a rib.
Wire under your pot if you haven’t, and if it’s been under the lights, wire under it a second time!
Wrap your pinkies and ring fingers around the very bottom of the pot- it’s stronger at the base and weaker at the top, so avoid touching near the top if at all possible!
Without putting more pressure on any one point, gently tip your hands up towards yourself and release the pot from the bat. Next, either lift straight up and off the bat, or tip the pot forward, and slide a hand under the base to lift. The rim may warp slightly here; ignore it! Set your pot down onto your wareboard and watch in wonder as the rim comes right back to round before your eyes. If it doesn’t, resist the urge to touch it! Once the piece is leatherhard it will be very easy to round right back into shape.
Pick a wareboard that is as close as possible to the size of your pieces, without letting any rims or handles hang over the edge. A very small piece on a very large board has a lot of room for air, which will dry the pot out much faster! A board that is too small means your pot is prone to bumping into others, which could mess up both your pot AND the one it touches!
Find a piece of plastic plenty big enough to fully cover your piece, and wrap under the edges of the wareboard, with room to spare! You want to gently drape the plastic over the top of your piece, and then loosely tuck the plastic under the edges of the board so that it is airtight, but not pulled tightly to the rim. A tightly fitting plastic is prone to sliding when you push your board onto a shelf, which will pull down on your rim and warp your piece!
To keep pots wet long term, such as delicate sculptures, put down your wareboard first, then a layer of plastic, then your pot. Wrap the plastic up and around your piece so it touches directly to the clay. Add a second layer of plastic if gapping is visible or of concern. Less air inside the wrapping means less drying!
For tiles or flat handbuilt items, you may wish to dry pots between two boards to help keep them flat. We have drywall boards in the handbuilding section perfect for exactly this (not meant to be used as cutting/working boards or gotten excessively wet!) Two regular wareboards with a piece of newspaper on either side also does the trick. A tile sandwich!
Finally, its time to choose a storage spot. If your cubby is available, this is definitely top pick for ware storage! Private, easy to remember and find again- but they do get full fast! Other areas for ware storage are any of the community ware shelves, labeled with flower name tags to help you remember which one your pot is on.
Please do NOT:
Move other students work!
Store pots in cubbies that are not your own!
Take studio wareboards, plastic, or other community tools home with you!
* Take a photo with your phone or make a note of what you have made, and where you stored it! It’s easier than you might think to forget everything you’ve been working on!
Periodically, it’s not a bad idea to check through the ware shelves (for greenware, but also for bisque and even glazed pots!) and make sure you haven’t forgotten anything! We find dozens of abandoned pots every session!!
I hope these tips help you with your ware storage and make things go just a little more smoothly! What would you like to hear about next?