Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Celery and Paint Spill


The tray above is one I made my first year working with clay. It's about five inches square and two inches tall with the handles. It fits neatly in a drawer and I keep my favorite earrings in it. It's made of a real groggy clay called Rod's Mix and is fired to Cone 10 in reduction. The glaze is called celery and it breaks to the nicest brown at the edges. I like how the sides lean out slightly. I am sure at the time it was by accident, but sometimes accidents turn out OK. The school didn't have the recipe for this glaze, too bad it was a real winner. This tray is small but it is so handy I should make a few more.

Speaking of accidents, today I asked Gary to hand me a box on a top shelf of the entryway closet. On the shelf below was a can of house paint I keep for touch ups. When Gary pulled the box down from the top shelf, the box hit a can of paint which fell on the floor and the cover came off and coral house paint ran all over the floor. Gary was mortified thinking the floor was ruined. I asked him to run and get some old towels and paper bags and I sopped up most of the paint with the towels, putting the towels in the paper bags. While I was doing that I asked him to get me a bucket of water and some clean wash cloths and the scrub brush. After I sopped up most of the paint, I washed it all with wet wash cloths. Then Gary gave it a good scrubbing with the brush.


Normally I'd take a photo of the before, but in this case I'm sure you understand. I had to act quickly before the paint settled into the grout on the tile floor. Thank goodness the paint was water based and not a dark color. We were so lucky. It could have been worse, I do have some black paint in that closet. It's a full can, the coral color was almost empty but even a small amount ran and splattered everywhere. The grout is still a little damp, but I don't think I can see any paint. I've since moved all the paint to the lowest shelf. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

12 comments:

  1. Oh Linda! This would make me hit the bottle! I love small trays- they are really useful.

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  2. Yikes, that is everyones worst nightmare. How lucky it was water based. Nice save.

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  3. The glaze looks like one that I use called Merlot. It's red in oxidation and this really pretty green in reduction. I can give you the recipe if you think that may be it.

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  4. Hi Meredith, thanks, well we did raise a glass after we cleaned it all up. I had forgotten about this little tray since it's in the bathroom drawer, but then was looking at it and thinking it was kind of cool.

    Hi Dennis, thanks, sometimes good things come in small packages as they say.

    Hi Patti, thanks, if we hadn't of gotten it right away it would have ruined the tile, thank goodness.

    Hi Lori, thanks, what cone is your glaze for? I fire to cone 5/6 now. This glaze is buttery and velvety looking, and a nice green, some are too stark of a green for my taste, makes me miss high fire reduction.

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  5. i feel your pain... i had a new ceramic tile floor in my kitchen and the first week it was down i dropped a jar of spaghetti sauce. i was very thankful we spent the extra on epoxy grout because regular grout would have soaked up that sauce. of course a couple of month later i dropped a full bottle of absolut vodka... the bottle didn't break but it put a good ding in the tile!

    i like the idea of using pretty ceramic trays inside drawers for organizers... you might be on to something!

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  6. Hi Michele, thanks, at our last house we dropped a screw driver on the laminate floor and it put a whole in it. you guessed it - ceramic organizers for drawers, desks, and table tops - signature pieces by Linda Starr, you heard about it here first.

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  7. oops should be hole in the floor, ha

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  8. Paint spill disasters require immediate attention. I don't blame you for not taking a picture. My daughter once dropped a can of paint down a flight of stairs. I was mad as a wet hen the whole time I was cleaning it up!

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  9. I really like that dinky little tray.
    Accidents happen - and you sound like someone it would be handy to have around in an emergency!

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  10. Spilled paint - NASTY! It looks like you were able to get it up quick and efficiently!

    I left an award for you on my blog today. :)

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  11. Hi Ms. Sparrow, thanks, down a flight of stairs, oh my that must have been a mess and since you remember it, very disconcerting I am sure to clean up.

    Hi Elaine, thanks so much. I am so glad I kept this tray, I also made one other small item that I sold which I wish I had kept and now I can't remember what it was and not even sure I have a photo of it. I am usually a pretty quick thinker in an emergency, thankfully it has paid especially with this paint fiasco.

    Hi Julia, thanks, we still a bit of haze and will try some vinegar to reduce that. Thanks for the award, I will check into your blog and blog about it real soon.

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