Drying Pots

I have been using a wooden rack with that thick clear plastic you use for drop cloths, etc for drying pottery. It keeps the pottery from being dried too quickly by air currents. On the other hand, it can make drying take a long time. To help with that I add heat. This humidified heat allows for a more even drying. The best would be if I added even more humidity. You can dry ware really fast if you have high heat and high humidity. I know it sounds odd to say you dry something with high humidity, but it works in pottery. I causes the moisture that is in the pottery to come to the surface, which is opposite what would normally happen. Normally clay is drying from the outside in and this can cause cracking because clay shrinks as it dries.

Anyway, I ordered a baker's rack off ebay that has a fitted, zippered cover. Then I just bought some plywood for shelves and drilled holes in them to help the heat move through the rack. The heat is provided by several 100 watt bulbs I have in the bottom of the rack. You can just see them in this picture.