What the heck is reclaimed clay?

We save literally every scrap of clay in the studio and recycle it along with any clay leftover from custom projects and our usual clay body. The process takes several weeks and a considerable amount of labor but it means we aren’t adding clay scraps to the landfill and for us, that’s worth the effort!

But here’s the kicker!

We are moving the studio soon and honestly, we don’t want to carry a literal ton of reclaimed clay to the new studio! It’s not in neat and tidy 50lb boxes like our new clay.

It's a labor intensive process but to keep clay out of the landfill, we think it's worth it!

First, we combine wet and dry clay scraps in large trash barrels. I'm talking the trash barrels big enough for a whole human to fit inside. Then we cover them with reclaimed water (Yes! We save all our studio water to rehydrate reclaim).

After that sits for a week or two, it is scooped out by hand onto a large plaster table top. It's nasty dirty work but also weirdly satisfying.

As the clay sits for another week or two, it begins to dry out until it is close to the texture I like when throwing.

The final step is running it through the pug mill - a great big auger machine with a vacuum pump that removes the air bubbles as it mixes the clay to an even consistency.

It usually takes a full day to process enough clay for a week of throwing.

Well. That's a tougher question.

It takes approximately 2 weeks to reclaim the clay.

I work in batches of 100 cups at a time, usually. It's always more efficient when I can batch a project because the more I make in one sitting, the easier it gets when muscle memory takes over so let's work on the timeline of 100 cups instead of a single cup.

Preparing and weighing the clay into individual pieces takes approximately 45 minutes.

Throwing 100 cups is approximately 3 hours. I need to get up and move around, clear my counter, etc so really, it's probably closer to 4.

The cups sit overnight to dry and then it takes Mackenzie or I approximately 3 hours to trim 100 cups.

Then they sit again, until they're dry. This could be a couple hours or a few days. We are at the mercy of Indiana humidity and weather.

It takes 15-20 minutes to load a bisque kiln then the firing and cooling process is approximately 30 hours.

Another 15-20 minutes to unload the kiln.

To wax the bottoms of 100 cups takes about 2 hours.

Glazing 100 cups is at least 4 hours to glaze and wipe the bottoms clean.


Then back into a kiln for the glaze firing. The glaze kiln takes about an hour to load. It requires a great deal more care to make sure none of the cups are touching each other.

The Glaze firing is approximately 24 hours to fire and then cool.

They're unloaded (30 minutes), checked for quality (30 minutes) then handed off to Christopher for packing and shipping.

From beginning to end it is a minimum of 3 weeks to make a single batch of cups, but we do this over and over every day so there are always pots in varying stages of completion in perpetuity.

Well, this doesn't work for a permanent business model.

Here are a few things that are unique to this challenge that are making it possible to sell the cups for $15 for a limited time:

• we are not spending any money on advertising because we hope you're helping us spread the word!
• these cups are not available for wholesale which means we are not required to maintain a minimum price on this item
• we are using reclaimed clay
• only 1000 are available at this price for a limited time
• it is our deepest desire that this helps you start or expand your Gravesco collection and you'll be a loyal customer and friend for a long time
• we're moving the studio and this is a LOT more fun for using up all our clay than moving a literal thousand pounds of wet sloppy clay to the new studio
• overall, this is a rare win-win situation that is unlikely to present itself again any time soon.

We'll be making the cups throughout the entire month of July and fulfilling orders in the same sequence they are received.

This means, the earlier you order, the sooner your cups will arrive!

Barring any complications, we will begin shipping cups the first week of July and continue shipping them as they come out of the kiln until the 2nd week of August.