In my infinite quest to replace expensive grog in my wadding, this firing I am following the suggestion of a fellow blogger and potter going by the name Newfoundout Potter. I am using coffee grounds. This suggestion appeals to both the frugalista and the tree-hugger in me: reuse! recycle! Coffee grounds are essentially garbage. We were using them in the compost pile but believe me there are plenty from this house to go around. Our compost is more acid than ideal, due to the preponderance of coffee grounds. Ooo, bad thought: our compost also sometimes smells like vomit, due to its great acidity. Let's hope my wadding does not also come to smell like vomit! That might be a deal breaker. For now, though, the wadding smells nice.
I did find that I had to use more grounds than grog to get the consistency that I want; whereas the original wadding recipe called for 2:2:1 Kaolin:Alumina:Grog, the coffee grounds version is closer to 1:1:1.
It's a weirdly warm day in Central Maine; the thermometer hanging on the deck says it's 50 F. A nice kiln-loading day.
OT: Check out my new profile photo! Turns out the same lighting set up to avoid shadows while photographing pots does a good jobs of filling in crow's-feet.
Might need to try a little coffee ground wadding in the wood kiln next firing (shooting for a March firing). Just a little batch to see how it fairs in that environment.
ReplyDeleteI know someone that wedges coffee grounds in his clay. The coffee grounds burn out leaving texture. I wonder how that would work out for wadding....
ReplyDeleteHi - I should have added that I also add some fine sawdust - sort of 1/4 fire clay, 3/4 mix of coffee grounds and sieved fine sawdust. Depends on how much sawdust and how much grounds I have - I like a very weak coffee and my husband does not drink it.) It does result in a very porous product once fired.
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