To Clean or Not to Clean

After a nine year hiatus from full-time pottery making, one should begin again with a clean studio, or?

In nine years doing pottery part-time, cleaning always took a back seat to making. Plus, clean is a relative term. I tend to be one of those people with a few "rat's nests," so even when I DO clean, it may not look like it to anyone else. Alas, clean I must, because the rat's nests were beginning to encroach too much to work.

Out, out, out. Paperwork and other stuff collecting dust. Don't stop to look. Just dump into recycle bin. Damp wipe, mop, mop again.

What to do with all the saved pottery seconds that have good surfaces, things to learn, ideas to remember, but take up so much space?

Many of these pots are clustered on a small ladder shelf that also has some sentimental value. Our home had been the home of Gilda Koblentz, a potter I unfortunately never got to meet. She had her studio in the garage and basement about ten years before we moved in. We took the 220 wiring for a kiln in the basement as a good sign when we purchased. The previous owners had dismantled all of the homemade ladder-style shelf units she's made but many were still stacked up in the basement. I made do with them for a long time before I invested in sturdier gorilla racks. The last of her shelves should probably be replaced, but think I'll wait until the next big clean-up day.