[Mark McCombs]

All,

I don't generate much in the way of trimmings and scrap from my throwing so it takes a while to get enough material to bother with.
So in the mean time the bucket is starting to get a bit ripe.
Is there an additive (other than bleach) that will take care of the bacteria and not mess with the clay? Or is bleach acceptable?


Perhaps the idea is to keep the bucket as dry as possible until I'm ready to use it. (?)


Thanks.

[Cass]

(whew, thought i smelled something in that west wind)

smaller buckets, reclaimed every few weeks

i know that's not what you asked but, i wouldn't personally want to mess with a claybody, then find out it's faulty

...maybe salt? or epsom salt

[Brian Reed]

I thought the best way was to just give it a good mix and let the smell dissipate. That is what I do.

[Lucille Oka]

Bleach is amazing how it 'defunkifies' the water and the clay. But I found that generic bleach was not effective, (though I only tried one generic brand) it didn't do much so I bought a bottle of Clorox. If you go to the Clorox website it will tell you about the uses of bleach for removing bacteria from water. They will also tell you how much to use. Remember chlorine is a gas and it does dissipate over time. I use it in all of my throwing water, misting water, reclaiming water, and wash down water. I dry trimmings and use the throwing water that already contains bleach for reclamation. Everything does smell better, and look better, and I feel better. I have destroyed the 'creatures from the black lagoon'!

[tia]

Mark McCombs, on 15 October 2012 - 01:52 PM, said:

<br />All,<br /><br />I don't generate much in the way of trimmings and scrap from my throwing so it takes a while to get enough material to bother with.<br />So in the mean time the bucket is starting to get a bit ripe.<br />Is there an additive (other than bleach) that will take care of the bacteria and not mess with the clay? Or is bleach acceptable?<br /><br /><br />Perhaps the idea is to keep the bucket as dry as possible until I'm ready to use it. (?)<br /><br /><br />Thanks.<br /><br /><img src='http://ceramicartsdaily.org/community/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /><br />

<br /><br /><br />

[oldlady]

yes, keep your trimmings dry if you intend to use them as a slip later. when you have enough they will slake down to a lovely slip. if you keep them a thin shavings size, you can mix up a slip in an old blender after only a few hours of soaking. if they are thicker than your little finger, they will take a day or so depending on how much you soak at a time. just remember that they must be really DRY to work.

if you are saving this stuff for reuse as a clay body there is a lot more involved. i don't do that, i reuse after pugging.

if you really want the wet stuff, clorox works great. use a paint stirrer to get it into the whole bucketload at once. it lasts until it is overwhelmed by the new stuff you add and doesn't hurt anything since it gasses off with time.

[Mark McCombs]

Brian Reed, on 15 October 2012 - 06:20 PM, said:

I thought the best way was to just give it a good mix and let the smell dissipate. That is what I do.

I was going to do that and it tried to bite me.


I think a little bleach might show it who's boss.


Thanks for the advice, everyone!

[koreyej]

I dry mine out. I keep 2 buckets: an ice cream bucket for throwing, and a 5 gallon bucket for scraps and reclaiming. The small one gets poured off and the sludge added to the 5 gallon bucket, where it is allowed to dry. The ice cream bucket gets filled again with clean water and off I go. I get to keep everything, but without the funk. And without the bleach. I have problems breathing around bleach and so try to minimize its use as much as possible.

[Marcia Selsor]

I dry mine out too. but sometimes I get a five gallon bucket of porcelain trimmings soaked down to make paper clay. I do add some bleach and give it a session with my jiffy mixer.
It can get very ripe.
Marcia

[TJR]

Cass, on 15 October 2012 - 06:24 PM, said:

(whew, thought i smelled something in that west wind)

smaller buckets, reclaimed every few weeks

i know that's not what you asked but, i wouldn't personally want to mess with a claybody, then find out it's faulty

...maybe salt? or epsom salt

Cass;
Definitely DO NOT use salt or Epsom Salts.Salt will flux the clay and cause it to melt, Epsom salts will interfere with the electrical charge of the molecules. If you must use something, one cap of bleach will do it.
TJR.

[Benzine]

What causes the stench in the first place?

I was always told it was bacteria, but what's the bacteria feasting on, to make the smell?

I've got some underglazes that smell just as bad, same cause?

[Cass]

TJR, on 20 October 2012 - 07:16 PM, said:

Cass;
Definitely DO NOT use salt or Epsom Salts.Salt will flux the clay and cause it to melt, Epsom salts will interfere with the electrical charge of the molecules. If you must use something, one cap of bleach will do it.
TJR.

interesting, a wild (bad) guess on my part!....melted wet clay, gotta wrap my head around that

chlorine would gas off, that makes sense,,, but what is it, the other chemicals in Clorox, that keep the gas liquefied? i would want to know that before i had my hands in it all day, just me

[Pam S]

oldlady, on 15 October 2012 - 11:34 PM, said:

yes, keep your trimmings dry if you intend to use them as a slip later. when you have enough they will slake down to a lovely slip. if you keep them a thin shavings size, you can mix up a slip in an old blender after only a few hours of soaking. if they are thicker than your little finger, they will take a day or so depending on how much you soak at a time. just remember that they must be really DRY to work.

if you are saving this stuff for reuse as a clay body there is a lot more involved. i don't do that, i reuse after pugging.

if you really want the wet stuff, clorox works great. use a paint stirrer to get it into the whole bucketload at once. it lasts until it is overwhelmed by the new stuff you add and doesn't hurt anything since it gasses off with time.

Might I ask what is involved for reusing as a clay body?

[neilestrick]

If you are recycling the clay, leave the funk! It will make your recycled clay more plastic. You've got weeks worth of mold in there. The moldier your clay is the better it will work for you. If you can't stand the smell, just put a lid on it till you're ready to use it.

[TJR]

Cass, on 20 October 2012 - 09:59 PM, said:

TJR, on 20 October 2012 - 07:16 PM, said:

Cass;
Definitely DO NOT use salt or Epsom Salts.Salt will flux the clay and cause it to melt, Epsom salts will interfere with the electrical charge of the molecules. If you must use something, one cap of bleach will do it.
TJR.

interesting, a wild (bad) guess on my part!....melted wet clay, gotta wrap my head around that

chlorine would gas off, that makes sense,,, but what is it, the other chemicals in Clorox, that keep the gas liquefied? i would want to know that before i had my hands in it all day, just me

Cass;
Sorry, you misunderstood, or I misunderstood. I reuse all of my trimmings, and dry them out on a plaster bat. I wedge them back in to my clay body. If you were to use salt, you could not reuse the clay to make pots or sculpture as the fired clay would melt, or give off fumes. If you do not intend to reuse the clay, just dry it out. Either way, you wouldn't need salt. Save the salt for you fries.
TJR

[Matt Oz]

TJR, on 20 October 2012 - 09:16 PM, said:

Cass, on 15 October 2012 - 06:24 PM, said:

(whew, thought i smelled something in that west wind)

smaller buckets, reclaimed every few weeks

i know that's not what you asked but, i wouldn't personally want to mess with a claybody, then find out it's faulty

...maybe salt? or epsom salt

Cass;
Definitely DO NOT use salt or Epsom Salts.Salt will flux the clay and cause it to melt, Epsom salts will interfere with the electrical charge of the molecules. If you must use something, one cap of bleach will do it.
TJR.

Epson salts are often used in clay bodies to improve plasticity, but only in small amounts .2-.3% (the decimal points are hard to see, that's 2/10 – 3/10%) don't know if it helps with stinkiness though.

http://digitalfire.c..._salts_292.html

[clay lover]

Lucille, if you have Clorox in all the wet things in your studio, doesn't it eat your hands after a day of working in it?

I, too, like the clean smell, but worry about skin effects. with daily use.

[Pam S]

We don't have a sink in our little studio at this point (studio is a small "bedroom" on the first floor. We use a two bucket system for waste water collection. To that I add a few drops of bleach to keep the odor down. For the reclaimed clay we put a few tablespoons of vinegar in the bucket. It keeps the moldy odor down but doesn't seem to effect the clay or the mold that grows which really increases the plasticity of the clay. I've gotten to the point that I'd rather work with the recycled clay than fresh clay. Just my 2 cents. We also keep both buckets covered to keep the odors at bay.

[koreyej]

Mark McCombs, on 15 October 2012 - 02:52 PM, said:

All,

I don't generate much in the way of trimmings and scrap from my throwing so it takes a while to get enough material to bother with.
So in the mean time the bucket is starting to get a bit ripe.
Is there an additive (other than bleach) that will take care of the bacteria and not mess with the clay? Or is bleach acceptable?


Perhaps the idea is to keep the bucket as dry as possible until I'm ready to use it. (?)


Thanks.

If you want an interesting science experiment, you can put a couple of tablespoons of yogurt in there. The good bacteria will digest the foul smelling stuff, leaving you with all the organics but none of the stench. However, you will want to put the bucket OUTSIDE for 2 days if you do this; while it's digesting it will clear a room. After that, though, it will smell like a spring rain. Also, I will take this opportunity to apologize to the ceramics class I was in when I acccidentally discovered this:-D

[Karen B]

neilestrick, on 24 October 2012 - 03:14 PM, said:

If you are recycling the clay, leave the funk! It will make your recycled clay more plastic. You've got weeks worth of mold in there. The moldier your clay is the better it will work for you. If you can't stand the smell, just put a lid on it till you're ready to use it.

Thank you for saying this Neil. I learned this 30 years ago and have never been concerned about smells or mold in clay. I was taught that the Japanese used to pee into their clay pits to increase plasticity.
No, I've never done this!