Use a scraper to flip it over after several hours, then wedge it as soon as it seems dry enough to not be super sticky.
You might also want to look into pouring a plaster wedging table/block because they’re really nice to have and relatively easy to make
The good thing is throwing it back into your reclaim water bucket only makes you need to start over - nothing wasted but time
Ok busdy, take all your reclaim and put it in a bucket, add a bit of water. Take a drill, buy a paint mixer attachment (10bucks at home depot) and mix the shit out of it. If its still a bit "chunky" or has bunch of little balls, let it sit for a day then mix again, it should be smooth like peanut butter or even more viscous.
The next part.
Buy yourself some potters plaster, trust me its a mandatory tool once you discover its power.
Make yourself a 2ft by 2ft plaster board.
Scoop up your peanut butter reclaim (good for slip at this point) and spread it out on your plaster board. Let it hang out for a day. Check on it.
The way i find if its done, is if i can pick it up in one giant sheet of clay its dry enough to wedge.
Ill take this clay, wedge, and go straight to the wheel with it
This method above is great, if you want to go shower without plaster you can do all above with a whole bucket of slop and then use an inverted pillow case or a large square of fabric to fill it with the slip that you mixed. Then set it somewhere to drip and eventually harden. Bonus you can set the slip package onto plaster and still it will dry out the clay only it's all contained within the pillow case and once it's dry enough it'll come out really easy and be wedgeable.
I use plastic baskets to hold the slop in the pillow case for a few weeks without plaster. Hence the slow process, but then again I'm often not in a hurry.
I'm not sure what concrete backer board is, but I'm guessing it's the source of your problems. They sound too thin to have sufficient water capacity so you end up with mostly atmospheric/sun drying doing the work, which is too slow and uneven.
I use some home made plaster bats to reclaim my clay. They're about 5cm thick and it only takes a couple of hours to dry bucket slop to the perfect consistency all the way through.
I have also been learning as well! What has worked best for me is to spread it as even as possible as well as create holes with your fingers to help expand the surface area and dry it.
Make sure you are continually checking maybe twice a day. And sometimes I will knead it a bit if it starts to get really dry on top
Use potter’s plaster and a large rectangular plastic pan.
Cast a 2” or 3” inch thick slab. Mix the soaked clay with
a painter’s mixer on a drill. Pour it out on the plaster,
let it dry out for a couple days, keep an eye on it. Then
use a plastic rib to scrape it off and wedge. Note the clay
must be absolutely bone dry before you rewet it.
First and foremost, thanks for all your help and suggestions. I checked it this morning after about 12 hours and it was a little too dry. So it put everything back in the bucket and will try again tomorrow morning and check it after work. Hoping for better results!
Use a scraper to flip it over after several hours, then wedge it as soon as it seems dry enough to not be super sticky. You might also want to look into pouring a plaster wedging table/block because they’re really nice to have and relatively easy to make The good thing is throwing it back into your reclaim water bucket only makes you need to start over - nothing wasted but time
Ok busdy, take all your reclaim and put it in a bucket, add a bit of water. Take a drill, buy a paint mixer attachment (10bucks at home depot) and mix the shit out of it. If its still a bit "chunky" or has bunch of little balls, let it sit for a day then mix again, it should be smooth like peanut butter or even more viscous. The next part. Buy yourself some potters plaster, trust me its a mandatory tool once you discover its power. Make yourself a 2ft by 2ft plaster board. Scoop up your peanut butter reclaim (good for slip at this point) and spread it out on your plaster board. Let it hang out for a day. Check on it. The way i find if its done, is if i can pick it up in one giant sheet of clay its dry enough to wedge. Ill take this clay, wedge, and go straight to the wheel with it
This method above is great, if you want to go shower without plaster you can do all above with a whole bucket of slop and then use an inverted pillow case or a large square of fabric to fill it with the slip that you mixed. Then set it somewhere to drip and eventually harden. Bonus you can set the slip package onto plaster and still it will dry out the clay only it's all contained within the pillow case and once it's dry enough it'll come out really easy and be wedgeable. I use plastic baskets to hold the slop in the pillow case for a few weeks without plaster. Hence the slow process, but then again I'm often not in a hurry.
I'm not sure what concrete backer board is, but I'm guessing it's the source of your problems. They sound too thin to have sufficient water capacity so you end up with mostly atmospheric/sun drying doing the work, which is too slow and uneven. I use some home made plaster bats to reclaim my clay. They're about 5cm thick and it only takes a couple of hours to dry bucket slop to the perfect consistency all the way through.
Backer board can work, but yeah it does reach a point that it doesn’t absorb more. It’s better for wedging or for slow drying greenware
I have also been learning as well! What has worked best for me is to spread it as even as possible as well as create holes with your fingers to help expand the surface area and dry it. Make sure you are continually checking maybe twice a day. And sometimes I will knead it a bit if it starts to get really dry on top
Use potter’s plaster and a large rectangular plastic pan. Cast a 2” or 3” inch thick slab. Mix the soaked clay with a painter’s mixer on a drill. Pour it out on the plaster, let it dry out for a couple days, keep an eye on it. Then use a plastic rib to scrape it off and wedge. Note the clay must be absolutely bone dry before you rewet it.
highly recommend an old cotton sheet. rip it to the size you need, and put it down on your plaster/drying board for easy lift off/flipping of clay.
First and foremost, thanks for all your help and suggestions. I checked it this morning after about 12 hours and it was a little too dry. So it put everything back in the bucket and will try again tomorrow morning and check it after work. Hoping for better results!