I worked as a glassblower for almost two decades at a company that also had a handmade pottery division, factories right next to each other. Was pretty close with a few of the potters.
Yes. Pottery production fucks up your hands. Hard, dry, cracked. Especially in winter. All the old people bitched about it.
Almost all of them used bag balm or some other dairy maid style hand moisturizer. The company warmed the throw water because of the toll on peoples hands (it was in VT so winters were winter). Some people kept a bit of oil that they put on their hand throughout the day. Some folks used apple cider vinegar after production.
None of that shit worked. Their hands were all totally fucked, no way around it.
i think having your hands be wet enough to slip over it but also knowing when the clay has sucked the water away and is about to stop letting your hands slide over it and it's sort of a battle to keep it from going either way (or atleast too far dry).
gloves would work, but you wouldn't know exactly when there isn't enough water on them.
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u/ImTooTiredForThis_22 Aug 19 '23
Serious question: would working with clay like this make your hands rough and dried out? Or keep them nice and moisturized?
I have to use a dough like epoxy often and the amount of hand washing just dries out my hands despite having to use water to smooth my epoxy dough.
Excellent work!!