By Eliane Medina

Artist Website

In a ceramics studio, dealing with reclaim is always an issue. Here is an idea that will help save some space and also make the reclaim process slightly easier. 

As most of you may know, plaster troughs are great for helping wet, sloppy clay to dry out. When we use them repeatedly, they become saturated and loose their ability to draw water out of the clay.  We have found a way to use our plaster troughs as efficiently as possible- by placing them on metal carts that all fit underneath each other. It's like the nesting doll of reclaim! These all fit under our studio slab roller which saves lots of space when we are drying out three troughs of reclaim at a time. They are also right in front of the heater for speedy drying times even in the winter. The metal carts allow air movement and are strong enough to support the weight of a full trough.

All of these carts have great casters, making it easy to roll the troughs out individually to fill with gooey reclaim, and to remove it once it's firmed up. Also convenient for sunny days when we want to roll the carts outside to dry (summer time when we do not want the heater on...).