Quick Tip: Pac-Man Sponge Jeni Hansen-Gard

Appears in the June/July/August 2018 issue of Ceramics Monthly.

I saw my first cut sponge in a friend’s kitchen next to their sink. The sponge was cut and propped up vertically, which allowed it to dry evenly. I thought about all of my students’ lost sponges and the countless sponge parts that I had found when cleaning out the pug mill. Soon after, I started cutting my throwing sponge so that I could place it over the rim of my throwing bucket to keep it from getting lost in the slop.

After I realized how efficient it was, I integrated it into my classroom. At the beginning of the term, I have my students cut their throwing sponge from the edge to between ₁⁄ ₃ and ½ way into the center. I don’t encourage cutting further than this because over time the sponge will begin to separate—although, in my experience, the sponges often become unusable before they come close to separating.

This quick alteration to a throwing sponge has allowed me to spend less time in class digging my hands in my students’ buckets trying to find their sponge and it does the same for them. Like any other habit, after you get in the rhythm of rinsing the sponge in the bucket and then placing it on the top edge it becomes routine, and also makes throwing more efficient.