Pug Mill Adventure

Yesterday was quite an adventure when I went to the Penland area to pick up a pug mill. For those who may be less familiar with such beasts, a pug mill is used to reclaim clay, mix clay, add grog to a clay for making larger pieces and flowerpots, and can be used as an extruder of sorts, but I do not really intend to use it as an extruder. Pug mills generally weigh quite a lot. Particularly when it gets up to this size and is made with marine-grade steel which keeps it from rusting. When I arrived to my destination, I saw a wooden flight of stairs, down which the pug mill was going to need to come. There was another option too - a large hoist system with chains that could lower it off the porch and into the truck bed. I should add that getting to the pottery was fun too, as it was up on the mountainside above a river! For anyone who ever visited me when I lived in a little studio out in Jackson County, Kentucky, the driveway to that place was a cakewalk compared to getting here!

Moment of truth before going over the edge

This whole adventure would not have been able to be accomplished without the help of Michael Kline and his family coming down from Bakersville to help out. The physical and moral support was greatly appreciated! After a while of figuring and my knowledge of tying things up from watching an engineer who knows about those things for several years, we got it attached and chained, and with breath held, pushed it out off the porch to dangle above the ground.

Almost there!

It was slowly lowered into the bed of the truck and with a little pushing, dropped right where it rode all the way home after being strapped in. With having a farm and developing a pottery shop, there really is never a dull moment. Life is full of adventures though, right?

With a sigh of relief, the beast was strapped in and covered up for the ride home.

As a funny post script, you may notice the port-a-potty in the above photo. Well, we almost had another adventure when someone went to back the truck up, the port-a-potty almost got pushed over a cliff! Luckily that did not happen and no one was inside!

Necessary Evils

Pile of reclaim clay ready to go through the pug mill

One of the necessary evils of making pottery, especially in a production setting, is putting clay through a pug mill. The clay is put into the mill where rotating discs push the clay to the front of the pug mill.

Clay getting ready to be pressed in to the mill

When the clay is pushed forward in the machine, it is compressed through a fine screen and then compressed again into a tube of clay.  

Reclaimed clay coming out of the pug mill

I am not a huge fan of putting clay through a pug mill, however, I intend to own one someday and appreciate the utility of the machinery.

The reclaimed clay was then used to make flowerpots in the afternoon. Joseph said that my small 1 pound rounded flowerpots looked like chamber pots. I have yet to decide whether that was a good thing or not. I am just thankful that we have advanced beyond the horse or mule-drawn mills which potters used to pug clay with. I'd hate to have to buy a mule too!

Warm puppies gathered by the stove all day