Ergonomic Glaze Storage: Save Your Back and Minimize Studio Clean-Up Time Jeannean Hibbitts

Today’s tip comes to us from ceramic artist Jeannean Hibbitts at Spider Hole Pottery in Astoria, Oregon. I thought Jeannean’s solution for glaze bucket storage was pretty nifty. Not only does it make glazing easier on the back (less bending over the glaze bucket), but it can keep your glazing room or area neat and organized—a must for small studios, especially. Plus, you can store additional glazes or raw materials underneath your most frequently used glazes. Cool! –Jennifer Poellot Harnetty, editor

My homemade glaze storage table helps make the glazing process easier and my studio more organized. I built the table to a comfortable height, just wide enough for my glaze buckets, plus a few inches, and long enough to accommodate several of my most frequently used buckets. Then I cut circles in the tabletop to the diameter of the buckets just under the lips and dropped my glaze buckets into the holes. Now glazes are always in the same place, and buckets can be easily removed to refill. I painted the table top with a glossy paint so clean-up is easy. The photos show the underside of the shelf, and a close-up of the buckets as they sit in the shelf. You'll want to make sure the table is constructed to support the weight of the glazes. My shelf is made of three-quarter-inch plywood, braced against the wall and supported along the length with plywood “walls.” Less frequently used glazes and supplies fit nicely under the shelf.

**First published in 2008.