Random tips and things from my studio

So a few random things about my studio that some might consider tips or tricks.

What you're looking at here on the left is how power gets into my studio.  It was like this when we moved in.  There's a light switch which turns on power to the rest of the outlets immediately adjacent.

Odd thing to blog about I know.  But I have it here because I need a space heater in my studio but space heaters are notoriously dangerous.  And since I need to heat the studio for a while before I actually enter it, I get nervous that I'll leave it on, forget it's on, and have a burned down studio several days later.  So I plugged it into this outlet.  It only turns on when I actually have the light on.  Because the light shines into my bedroom at night, no risk of me forgetting it's on!

Here is said space heater.  It's up on a table because the power cord to reach the outlet that's on the ceiling is kinda short.  I used those wire shelving things that everyone seems to use in college to build a little cage around it.  Now I'm less likely to knock it over and I can put drying pots on the shelf above it to speed things up a little bit.

Ok, let's talk lids.  I often throw them right side up.  Use about twice as much clay as you want in the actual lid and then carve the big pad of clay off the center when you trim it.  And I roll the rim over to make it thick and strong.  I also tend to make my lids on the large side because it's very easy to shave them down once everything has dried but you certainly can't expand them if they are too small.  And I guess that's the only advice I have about lids.

This is one of those nets used to strain paint.  The top is held open with an embroidery ring.  The ring is then set on top of two posts from my pegboard.  What possible use could I have for this?

Reclaiming clay!  I scoop all of my slurry and trimmings from the reclaim bucket into this bag.  Of course it has a bucket underneath it to catch all the icky the oozes through it.  Because I don't reclaim massive amounts of clay, and this bag will hold almost a full bucket, it's just the right size for me.  And because it hangs in the air yet with a nice net around it, it dries evenly all the way around and nothing gets into it.  The day after I put the slop in, I scrape the outside of the bag to get rid of the semi dried clay that is now attached the outside.  This way when it dries enough, I just turn it upside down and peel the bag off and the bag is not actually embedded in the clay but rather sits around the clay.

I had a problem where all of my pots would get little clay crusties embedded into their feet.  My whole pottery studio is coated in a layer of clay so there's pretty much no place to put finished pots where the crusties won't attack.  So I bought some bisque tiles to set things on when they are finished.  Haven't needed to clean them yet and the crusties have stayed away.  Yay!

I hope this gives some of you ideas of how to solve the problems you run across.  More silly ideas tomorrow!