Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Every Friday afternoon I try to give the workshop, and my wheel and tools mainly, a brief clean. I’ve never been a potter to let mess accumulate, from my perspective, I can’t make and feel content in that process if the place is messy—maybe that’s a product of my years as an apprentice—but a clean studio puts my headspace into a good place too. A Friday clean-up also means that I can start first thing on the Monday, rather than starting by tidying the mess I left last week.
During my apprenticeship with Lisa Hammond, I was teased all the time due to how much I mopped, twice, three times a day, the bucket was always ready and after three-years of pretty much constant tidying, it’s definitely made a cleaner maker on the whole. Even when I’m throwing, I’ll wipe down the tray regularly and I always keep a large bucket of water directly to my left, into which I can throw the larger clay scraps, (so they don’t fill up the plastic wheel-tray), and it also means I can wash my hands in it before drying them off. This way I don’t have a clay-crusted towel following me around. That isn’t the best if you are trying to counter potter’s rot, silicosis. Speaking of silicosis, yes, I know I’m brushing the floor in this video but I do so very gently and I’m only really gathering up the larger bits of reclaim—the actual dust I’ll soak up with the mop
The truth is though, there’s never that much untidiness to clean up, clutter, yes, but that’s a result of trying to do too much each week. There’s clay spattered on buckets and wheel, my camera’s tripod always gets encrusted throughout the week and I try to reclaim as many of the shavings of clay that have fallen onto the floor despite it resulting in a tiny bit of contamination, a few hairs, dry blades of grass and tiny stones or ceramic never do too much damage.
Together with keeping on top of the reclaim, tidying like this is another constant task too, although I sort of long for a traditional, dirt-floored studio, or a wheel with a pit beneath it you let the reclaim accrue in for a year…
#pottery #cleaning #asmr #oddlysatisfying #ceramics
Every Friday afternoon I try to give the workshop, and my wheel and tools mainly, a brief clean. I’ve never been a potter to let mess accumulate, from my perspective, I can’t make and feel content in that process if the place is messy—maybe that’s a product of my years as an apprentice—but a clean studio puts my headspace into a good place too. A Friday clean-up also means that I can start first thing on the Monday, rather than starting by tidying the mess I left last week.
During my apprenticeship with Lisa Hammond, I was teased all the time due to how much I mopped, twice, three times a day, the bucket was always ready and after three-years of pretty much constant tidying, it’s definitely made a cleaner maker on the whole. Even when I’m throwing, I’ll wipe down the tray regularly and I always keep a large bucket of water directly to my left, into which I can throw the larger clay scraps, (so they don’t fill up the plastic wheel-tray), and it also means I can wash my hands in it before drying them off. This way I don’t have a clay-crusted towel following me around. That isn’t the best if you are trying to counter potter’s rot, silicosis. Speaking of silicosis, yes, I know I’m brushing the floor in this video but I do so very gently and I’m only really gathering up the larger bits of reclaim—the actual dust I’ll soak up with the mop
The truth is though, there’s never that much untidiness to clean up, clutter, yes, but that’s a result of trying to do too much each week. There’s clay spattered on buckets and wheel, my camera’s tripod always gets encrusted throughout the week and I try to reclaim as many of the shavings of clay that have fallen onto the floor despite it resulting in a tiny bit of contamination, a few hairs, dry blades of grass and tiny stones or ceramic never do too much damage.
Together with keeping on top of the reclaim, tidying like this is another constant task too, although I sort of long for a traditional, dirt-floored studio, or a wheel with a pit beneath it you let the reclaim accrue in for a year…
#pottery #cleaning #asmr #oddlysatisfying #ceramics
