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The Work of Art and The Art of Work Kiko Denzer on Art |
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[Cob] Re: Screening clay for floors & plastersocean ocean at woodfiredeatery.comThu Dec 9 18:28:53 CST 2004
Hey Ed, Amanda, all, I've had no trouble making and applying volumes and volumes of plaster/floor mix (200 linear feet of wall, 600 sq. ft. of floor) with a very simple procedure: 1. Whip beautiful red clay in a 55 gallon drum with enough water to cover, resulting in a nice runny clay slip. I use a 1/2" drill and drywall "beater" to whip the slip. 2. Pour the clay through a 1/4" mesh (hardware cloth), screeding a bit back & forth with a 2x4 block. 3. I don't do a second screening, just mix this slip with river sand, ratio is 3:1 (sand to clay) in an Imer electric cement mixer for plaster. For floor finish I'd go with a higher ration - 5:1 or more (Ianto told me 7:1 for his floors !!) I don't worry about rocks in my slip, since the sand also has small rocks approaching 1/8-1/4". 4. I spray in enough water to the mixer to make sure the clay slip completely coats all the sand particles. Then I add chopped straw which has been screened with a 1/2" mesh. The straw absorbs enough of the water in the clay/sand to make a nice consistency. 5. The trick to getting a smooth finish is in the floating after the plaster/floor finish is applied. "Floating" brings the fines up to the surface, and forces all the bigger stuff (rocks, chunks of unmixed clay, etc.) deeper down, resulting in a very beautiful smooth wall or floor. On walls we float with stainless steel Japanese trowels, which I love! For the floor a nice cement float works well. Good luck, but don't worry about screening out those little sharp rocks. I've never had the patience for an 1/8" screen, though for very fine sculpture work, Kiko uses very fine sand and clay, plus grass-fed cow manure. He has some beautiful bas relief sculptures on exhibit at Intabas, you can see pictures of his sculptures on our website: http://www.intabas.com Happy "Cob"-mas! Ocean Intaba's Restaurant, Corvallis, Oregon http://www.intabas.com Ahimsa Sanctuary for Peacemaking and Sustainable Living, Philomath, Oregon http://www.peacemaking.org On Dec 9, 2004, at 10:29 AM, Amanda Peck wrote: > I've run it through the--half-inch--screen as dry as possible--not > very, given that the clay pile is outside--which means that we > basically extruded bits through the screen, letting the easy stuff go > on down (into a garbage can) and sometimes putting the bigger pieces > away for later consideration > > But I'm using galvanized wire mesh, the kind you use for rabbit cages. > Not all that likely to break, in the two-foot square we were using, > in other words. > > And there's plenty left in the garbage can after we did a 100sf floor > at about an inch and a quarter deep in one step. The mixture WAS less > than a quarter clay. We were able to use one clay, three sand, and > maybe a bucket of wood shavings, no idea what you're having to use. > > But seems like some people are getting themselves SOME powder/dry > clay, and mixing the rest into a slip, pouring that through their > screen, drying it out in the final floor mixture with sand and their > clay powder, and wood chips or sawdust or whatever. I guess you'd > want to add a lot of water, mix a lot, let it stand maybe overnight > and take off the nearly pure water that accumulates on top, pour the > next layer through that or even a finer screen, with or without the > stones that have accumulated on the bottom. Using the ubiquitous > 5-gallon buckets--3-gallon if I can find them and they're not too much > more than the 5 (they sell fewer of them). > > A third way, (if you've got one of those concrete mixing tubs or a > shallow rubber-like tub and enough wire mesh to make a basket to fit > it,) might be to lay the mesh basket in the tub, put as dry as > possible clay in there. pound with a mallet, then lift the basket, > shake out all the small stuff, pour the now sifted contents of the tub > into something else, repeat. (I really have pounded very dry clay in > a tub, poured out what will go through the mesh, and repeated) > > But take care of your hands! Pure clay is pretty sterile, but just > dirt isn't, and the particular composition of the soil bacteria varies > wildly, from stuff that pediatricians wish that more toddlers were > exposed to, to mildly stimulate their immune system, on. > > Ed wrote: > > I am having a problem processing enough clay for a floor finish. > The first step is to wet it and mix it with a power mixer then I > push it > through 1/2 inch screen. This gives me a tapioca-like mixture of clay > tapioca > balls mixed with a few very sharp quarts rocks. > The next step is add more water, mix it again and push it through a > window screen. This is where the problem occurs. When I place an > aluminum or nylon > screen on top of the 1/2 inch screen and try pushing the clay through > it is a > very slow process. I cut up my right hand Tuesday, my left hand > Wednesday just > making one batch a day, and I am not looking forward to five more > batches > needed to finish. I can wear dishwashing gloves or a wooden block > taped to my > hand to protect it from the sharp rocks, but if I use more force to > speed up the > process it tears the window screen. > Today I am going to try 1/4 inch screen and then two layers of 1/4 > inch > screen set at a 45 degree angle with a power mix between steps to get > rid of > the tapiocas. This stuff is tough enough to take lots of force. Then I > when I > get to the window screen it is my hope that most of the sharp rocks > will be gone > and I can use a little more force. > If this does not work I am not sure what to do. I am slated to > help Chris > do his floor next. He wants the same nice red clay as I am using for > my floor > and his floor is twice the size of mine. > I tried finding a supplier for stainless steel screen but cannot > seem to > find anyone who wants to sell small quantities. > Does anyone have ideas? Someone must have had this problem before > me. > Ed > > > > _______________________________________________ > Coblist mailing list > Coblist at deatech.com > http://www.deatech.com/mailman/listinfo/coblist >
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