Fired Arts: Expansion Ideas

We spoke about this at the March committee meeting and I wanted to continue with our initial open idea space before we begin to impose structure and realism into the picture. For a couple of days, let’s just throw all the possibilities at the wall. Even though a particular want may be ridiculous and untenable, it may spark an idea or unique solution, so 1) don’t be afraid to bring up anything and 2) let this be a positive phase. If you don’t like an idea, leave it alone, if you dig it, throw in your support. Detail is deeply useful, why an idea is beneficial is almost as important as the idea itself and we will pool the most wanted with the most needed.

We have recently had a lot (A LOT) of discussion on long term planning, use of space and problems we have in our area and have worked to address them to the best of our ability within the confines of our current space. Let’s keep those bigger issues in mind as we now re-visit concepts we had to table previously due to square footage/utilities/etc.

Some items that have been brought up by assorted FA peeps:

More glass workstations (separate from clay areas, safety, cross contamination, maybe entirely sep. space)
Space for new glass donation tools (needed to support new efforts, classes)
Water, water, water (cleaner, safer, less impact on others)
Pug Mill (increased use of space=more waste clay, recycling is cost effective for classes/free clay, needs additional space for additives and processing)
Damp Cabinet (better for longer term projects (good/bad), great for more complex projects - attracts and supports greater variety)
More works shelves for both glass and clay (supports bottleneck area)
Portable Raku solution (because…fun. yay fire.)
More Wheels (increase class size, support class use and individual use at the same time)
More separated workspaces (so classes and personal work can coexist easily)
Soda Kiln (I was serious about that ‘throw anything, no matter how ridiculous’, this is nigh impossible but would be super cool)
More specialized tool storage (efficiency and easier for people to properly clean up, keeps everything in a consistent place, good for new and old users both)
Slipcasting table (support a good intro to ceramics, it’s a draw, have access to a free one)
Vented glass work table (similar to Craft Guild, dedicated space, safety conscious)

What did you really want out of the rebuild that couldn’t be accommodated?

Just throwing out random ideas as I think of them.

Slipcasting molds, possibly a bakers rack with molds, would be a nice to have. I realize there are storage units and barns full of molds, that the value for most molds is less than 0 and a lot of them are just being trashed. I don’t know how to decide which molds are good enough to keep at DMS.

Casting slip available for donations.

Clay available for donations so I don’t have to carry clay into DMS. I would rather just donate to fired arts - but I primarily use the slab roller so can’t use really wet clay that was used for throwing.

Would there be any interest in ready to glaze (or paint) bisque available for payment to fired arts?

I’d like to be able to fuse glass and a kiln to anneal lampwork.

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The thing I didn’t know I wanted until it was too late –
The wall cabinets need to be 6" to 1’ lower. They are just too high for shorter people to access easily, and most of the handworking tools and implements are stored on the second shelf.

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I am looking at the possibility that all of the new space will not have full AC

Kilns, ready to fire racks and pug mill could go into the now fully AC area
Racks with slip molds and hump and slump molds

Raku kiln YES Yes yes!!!
‘portable’ pit fire pit (sand box on pallet with blocks to build it
Limited personal clay storage-2 bags max --charge small fee>
Cubbies for purses/laptops not on floor

Extruder permanently attached
Slab roller not on wedging table (it could be in the auxiliary area
(Box of fabric to use on it under it)

1-2 reg height tables for handicap or for folks building taller items

Another large kiln and power to run 2 kilns at a time

A library shelf for ideas and techniques

Gas reduction kiln

and ditto to the other
If we can t have water in the area then it neds to be close liek in the next room

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It would be nice to bring back clay storage to fired arts if possible. I’d be willing to pay a small fee for storage. But at least we might have a ramp which would be a huge improvement. It’s such a pain to carry everything that I’ve been spending more time working on my own version of fired arts in my garage. I’m not trying to be negative - I love the new fired arts but if we get more space soon, it would be awesome to have clay storage again.

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Design them for a single box of clay That is 2 bags so you can have 2 different types

If I had clay sitting there I would go and use it a lot more I just cant carry in goth metal and clay at the same time

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Random ideas:

Work shelves that can be easily adjusted: for tall projects and short people.:wink:

Tall and small lamps with different lighting options (fluorescent/ incandescent/ (natural)) that can be easily adjusted

Make our area more inviting with pictures of our projects and finished pieces on the walls.

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I would love it if we had our own tiny Exchange shelf for ceramics that didn’t quite work out and/or ceramics tools that are no longer needed. I always look for ceramics on the Exchange shelf - I use them or put flowers in them and give them as gifts. I know there would be a lot of junk on there that just needs to be thrown away and it would be a waste of volunteer time keeping it looking nice. But while we are dreaming… :slight_smile:

A display shelf would be nice as well.

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I’m hearing a lot of people talking about slip casting, attached is a picture of a slip poring table, I use to have one. They make slip casting extremely easy, and it helps to keep an over pour from going all over the place. If we get more developed in this area the table would be a great benefit.
table.

I’ve stated this several times, we need more space for greenware in progress space, waiting to be trimmed. The shelf is always full. We have over flow being set in random areas.

Glass should have its own area, perhaps this can happen with the expansion. People with torches need space, with no one squeezing around them at walk ways, people leaning around them while they are working, ect. Once we start cutting glass, people will need a larger work space. Cut glass siting on glass until fired, a bump could cause a total failure of their work. My vote is for glass to have its own department. Thanks to the donation we should have what we need for a department.
Kriskat30 chime in what you think.

The remodel plans have been changed several times mostly to supply and demand, rallying help, and transportation. Please post current items that need to be completed, and estimated time lines of completion. I’m guessing a post put on talk for assistance to get the concrete picked up, someone may offer to help. We really need the wedging space and work space completed.

The table between the wheels in very nice, but not large enough for people doing multiple projects at 1 sitting. They tend to pile up their stuff on the wedging table while working. We need a table for people to set multiple projects on, on the day they are working, until they are done that day. A book case maybe? this would keep the wedging table from getting filled up.

We need some Turning 101 classes scheduled. I have had a couple of people tell me they are going to teach turning classes, they need to be solicited again to get classes on the calendar. Perhaps hold a potential teachers meeting with pizza / soda ,to sit them down and discuss a syllabus, how to submit a class to be put on the calendar, and what safety basic should be taught.

I agree with Beth the shelves are to high. A small foot stool pushed under the table that you can hook with your foot and pull out may be a quick fix.

A display area for a scheduled Maker to show off their work. Perhaps after the expansion would be nice. A Mini one Maker Art show each month. I would love to see our Makers finished products, and this would look great for the Thursday tours. Perhaps across the top of the cabinets?

It would be nice to have show and tell / seek advice, mingle Pot luck, or pizza party every quarter, swap idea, seek answers, build Maker friendships.

From my understanding everything is suppose to be voted on by the comity, we are a community of Makers. More votes need to take place on all changes, items being moved, remodel ideas, and what supplies our makers should or should not pay for to use. The votes need to be documented on comity meeting notes for people that can not make the meetings.

A lot of things were disposed of since they gather dust, or take up space. They were put on the give away shelf or tossed,. All things disposed of should be posted on Talk. I had someone tell me the other day, wow if I know that was going to be trashed I would have wanted it. I personally saw the large roll of roofing paper on the give away shelf several months ago. My hands were full at the time, I went back to get it and it was gone. What a great loss for our clay hand builders. My thought is no one knew what it was for. If it was posted on Talk, light could be shed on the use of roofing paper and clay hand building. So more post on Talk please.

Thank you,
Anita Willis

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I really like all of these ideas. With ceramics sometimes things that look like trash might actually be useful. Last weekend I couldn’t find some things that I needed - which is fine as I bring a lot of supplies just in case but it makes me less likely to want to come to DMS to work on ceramics projects if the tools that I need are randomly missing. I think the fix is probably labeling and having a place for things where they look like they are being used whenever possible. Posting on Talk before throwing things away would also help.

I really like the ideas about show and tell, pizza parties and other social events for fired arts.

I’d also love to have a place to set up the extruder and a class on it.

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I don’t want to derail this looking forward thread but I would like to address a few items. I apologize if I am defensive, but I have been trying very hard to increase the sense of community and ownership in Fired Arts, getting more people involved. I agree with you on several items, there are some great ideas here! Please keep those coming, they will be compiled and brought back to the committee with some structure for further discussion.

On the rebuild and other decisions made, I would ask that everyone who wants to have a voice to participate as well. There have been many clean up days, rebuild work days, committee meetings ( I use a formal agenda and post it for those who cannot make the meetings), after-committee meeting discussions, Talk threads etc. Remodel and removal items have been voted on at meetings. Granted, we have been very casual about that and have asked for all opinions before choosing a direction to go. We more come to mutual decisions if that makes sense? As much as possible, I want to pursue directions that everyone is comfortable with rather than just saying ‘you got outvoted, sorry!’.

The difference in participation level between talking about issues and volunteering time to address them is extreme. I try to be as inclusive and informative as possible, but I am not going to put timelines for completion up. With such a small number of people doing the sweat work, I’m not going to apply even more pressure to give even more of their time. If there is something anyone wants to see done faster, please volunteer!

The wall cabinets are standard cabinet height, which was necessary to increase horizontal work space. The step stool is an easy help though. If those that have difficulty could discuss/research what sort of step stool would work best and let me know, that can be acquired no problem! Not many non-furniture items have been removed from the space. I do not believe we have thrown anything useful away. We have been very careful about this. Could you please let me know what concerned you specifically? I love tools and hoard them hardcore. Items removed were brought up in committee meetings, on Talk, or during work days. I talked to @Photomancer a lot about the best way to handle removals of personal and committee property. For committee items, his advice was to approach other committees first if appropriate and then the member exchange shelf for equal opportunity to everyone. I have no idea on the roofing paper! My husband swears by it for handbuilding and I do not know the story on how it ended up on the shelf, are you sure it came from FA? If so, that is indeed a loss. The concrete had to come back into stock, has been paid for, and we have transportation arranged. That should be wrapped up soon, yay! Meeting minutes are usually available within one week, I should try to be faster on these.

I hope this helped clear up some questions and if there is anything I failed to address, please let me know! I’m always here for any questions or issues. I’m trying to hold my tongue on all the groovy ideas and let others get in their thoughts but I’m personally very excited.

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I just said that I was trying to hold my tongue on specific ideas but I so agree, I would relish a permanent wall-home for the extruder if we had more space. (And classes, always classes!)

One thing we discussed at the last committee meeting was a casual class/event for new teachers that would cover what FA is happy to provide in way of pre/during class help, materials and calendar scheduling discussion. If anyone wants to head up this effort, that would be fabulous. Let me know!

If something doesn’t look used or looks like it was just dumped there, it makes sense that it could just get thrown away during a work day. The last work day that I attended, everyone was just working hard to clean as quickly as possible. :slight_smile: If we get more space and can put things in a permanent spot and label them I think that will help. For example with the roofing paper, if it had it’s own spot and had been labeled - especially if it had been a consumable that fired arts was charging for (preferably on Square), I bet it wouldn’t have been put on the Exchange shelf.

The Celtic rubber stamps are still there, I hopw, They wer a loan and some of those are no
longer available

A slip pouring table like that is great for production work, but they have issues to consider.

My recollection is that the one I used needed almost a gallon just to prime the pump. So if you have molds that you were working in parrallel that held about a gallon total, and you expected to use almost a gallon with your pieces, you needed to bring at least 3 gallons to the table.

They are a pain to clean. Getting the last half gallon out is a pain. You have both the contents of the hose, and the depth at the bottom that the pump won’t pull to get back into your containers. Then there is simply a lot of surface to clean slip off of, and a lot that is likely to wind up in your clay trap.

Also, it is easy to saturate several molds when working from a table like this. If you need a bunch of one, or a few parts, you need several molds to make best use of the time to have loaded and cleaned this up.

Just my 1/2 cent for others to contemplate.

I kept mine full and covered in plastic. Scrapped the sides when they got dry ,!or slip got thick added water, had it for about 10 years, then sold it when I closed my ceramic shop. Slip was back then about a 1.00 a gallon.

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I, for one, was quite surprised by the decision to toss the small plaster drying slab for recycling clay. I didn’t even see it on the Exchange Shelf, nor was I present at any time when it was discussed. I will grant that I have not been able to make all of the meetings.

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Gotcha, I can expand on this one! This was addressed at multiple clean up days and during the rebuild/moving forward meeting. It was in poor repair (crumbling) and never cleaned. Cleanliness was the number one issue brought to me by/heard from committee members, prospective new members and other DMSers. Also, we had (and still have) another, more easily cleaned plaster surface. It is currently on the vampire cart but I’d like to put it on a new table in the same place.

To keep this sorta on target for Expansion Ideas, I would like to have a full clay recycling area with the aforementioned pug mill, clay scrap bins, maybe a drip system for excess water, storage bins for dry clay to add back into the recyc to improve the quality (this is iffy because dry clay is both a mess and terrible for you to breathe, but maybe there is a good fix for that), and a plaster bat setup. My concern with all this though is that it breaks down if there is no one to process clay through the system promptly. If you just leave it stalled at a step and it dries out, it creates an eyesore and a source of clay dust. I don’t know the answer to this, but if we have more space and could recycle clay in a healthy and clean manner, we totally should. Or, we could just buy new clay in bulk and sell it in smaller portioned packages. That’s cheaper, requires far less manpower and gives a better end product. I’m torn on this issue, benefits to both directions.

When I collected up all the texture tools into one area in December, I fixed their box which was coming apart (no lid?) and put them back in.

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Great I am going to come borrow them back to do some acid etching on copper
soon If they are unloved I want them back
I found one more of them also

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