Anita and the big clay mixer

Inside the big clay mixer. Clay to be recycled.

Great big ancient gears turn the mixer's paddles.

Mounds of raw materials.

Overhead belt-run pulley.

Pulley without protective screen.

Dan Davidson, our tour guide, pulls the handle that engages the drive belt.

The mixed slip runs out into a hole in the floor that leads to the next room.

Well-greased mixer machinery.

Press for removing water from clay slip.

The clay is quite soft.

Then it goes into a pugmill.

The extruded clay is scooped onto carts and taken to the jiggers or wheels.

Molds for flowerpots.

Hydraulic flower pot press. Very dangerous! The dies weigh 50 pounds.

Dan found an old Amaco wheel.

Dan shows us a jiggering machine for large pots. This is the mother mold.

The arm is used to form the interior.

Finished pots are drying until they can be removed from the plaster molds.

Under the floor machinery that drives the jiggering machine.

Better view.

Ware carts move along an overhead track that can be switched to go to different parts of the factory.

Ware carts are rolled into large drying rooms.

This is a mold for hanging baskets.

Dan demonstrates trimming a jar that has been joined from two separate molded pieces.

Finished trimming. The pot can be carved or stamped.