technical tuesday: freezing temperatures

by Carole Epp | Nov 13, 2012 | call for entry, emerging artist, job posting, monday morning eye candy, movie day, residency opportunity, show us your influences, technical tuesday

So I’ve always known to “never let your clay freeze”. It was just one of those things you were told and you followed without question. I know, it’s water expansion…don’t do it. Well I didn’t question what exactly would happen, that is up until the other day when I was in a need to know situation regarding exactly what was going to happen to all of the supplies in my studio as the temperature started to dip. Was everything at risk – glazes, slips, underglazes, mixed china paints?

You see since moving this past summer we have yet to install any heat into my new studio space. Yeah duh I knew winter was coming, we just hadn’t figured out how we were going to separate the double car garage/studio space into two separate work spaces. One for clay, the other for building custom bikes. So I know, I know, procrastinating is never the answer. But we did, and then this happened….

Pretty maybe, but with the crunch of pre-holiday sales looming it was frankly not invited. My studio temperature crashed, even with the kiln firing. And one night I went to go out only to see that the temperature was this…

That’s Celsius folks. And bloody cold.  Needless to say I had to wear a different uniform to work that day:

And as you can see my water pail was forming a layer of ice already.

So the rest of the night was spent moving leather hard work and pails and boxes of clay into the basement and out of harm’s way. But the entire time I wondered to myself what exactly was going to happen to all of my supplies if I hadn’t gotten to them on time. What would have been salvageable and what would have been a goner?

So today I share some links with you that I found useful and I share the hope that you find yourself in much more pleasant climates in your own studio spaces : )

http://www.dogwoodceramics.com/misc/freeze-warnings-for-slips-clay-and-glazes.htm
http://www.highwaterclays.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/feature.display/feature_id/93

And on a happier note I did have some nice results in the kiln lately. Just in time for the upcoming sales.  I’m finding myself having more fun with the functional stuff lately. Feeling inspired, but at the same time looking forward to the sale season to be over and done with so that I can sink my teeth into some figurative sculpture pieces I’ve had bouncing around my head for a while now. More on that in the new year…