Pugging is the act of feeding scrap, dry, or inconsistent clay through a mechanical mill to homogenize it and extrude it as a solid, workable log. The process chops the clay, mixes in water if needed, and forces it through a vacuum chamber to extract trapped air bubbles. Potters pug their clay to recycle trimmings and ensure the material is perfectly dense and plastic before throwing.
Heard on the job
I need to pug this bucket of scrap clay before we can start throwing the large bowls.
Do not mix it up with
- Pug mill: Pug is the action or the extruded clay itself, while the pug mill is the machine that does the work.