Gorilla Tubs are amazing buckets, especially for mixing plaster, gathering clay chunks, or as a wide trough for pouring glazes. Designed for gardening, stables, and construction sites, these flexible buckets are equally at home in art studios. They are affordable, long-lasting, easy to clean, and just great to use. The only drawback is they aren’t as good for moving large amounts of liquid—stick to a rigid bucket for carrying water or ceramic slip.
Look at the flexibility of this bucket!
Earlier this year, I purchased the Small 3.5 gallon / 14 L blue bucket pictured above, for mixing and pouring plaster. It’s just the right size for most of my plaster pours, and the flexible edge makes it super easy to pour. And when I’m done, the flexible sides make it easy to pop the plaster off and clean it for the next use. If you mix plaster, you definitely need to get one of these buckets.
After using and loving the first bucket, I recently added the shallow sizes, including the mini shallow 1.3 gallon / 5L and the shallow 3 gallon / 15 L tubs. They stack easily when not in use, and are so useful for glazing, mixing clay, gathering odds and ends together, or a variety of other tasks. They are quickly becoming my favorite buckets in the studio. (For throwing, I only use the Argee 5 qt Big Mouth Bucket (shop at amazon) )
Formerly known as Tub Trugs, Gorilla Tubs are manufactured in Spain by Red Gorilla. The buckets are easy to find on Amazon in the U.S., but two that I ordered shipped directly from Spain and arrived in a few weeks. Definitely check the shipping and vendor location etc, but these should be an affordable upgrade to your studio. The buckets are available in a variety of sizes and colors. Included here are links to the three buckets pictured in this post.
More Images of the Gorilla Tubs
The bottom of the tubs is slightly reinforced with thicker rings of plastic, but still flexible.
These sizes stack together nicely.
The inside of the Gorilla Tubs is smooth and flexible. Easy to clean!
In conclusion, without being too over the top, these are great buckets and are perfect for anyone who mixes plaster. But once you get one, I’m sure you’ll find that you’ll use it all the time for a variety of tasks.
Do you have a favorite bucket for the studio? Let us know in the comments.
