If you’ve followed along over the past year while I attempted to make some extra large Rock Candy pieces, you’ll know that it was a challenge, but eventually I succeeded. I was able to make a selection of pieces that had no cracks or flaws, but there was a whole pile of pieces that didn’t make the cut. They’ve hung around the studio for long enough now, so it was time to get rid of them. So what do I do with all the unsuccessful pieces?
I hate garbage, I am always looking for a way to reuse, upcycle, repurpose or recycle everything and fired clay is no exception. While it could just go into the general landfill, I discovered that many refuse sites will accept ceramics in a separate pile where you would also put toilets, sinks and tiles. They grind up all the ceramics material and use it as an aggregate for compacting roads around the site or elsewhere. So if you have a bunch of broken ceramics from your studio be sure to check out if your local refuse center will separate it for use and you’ll give your not-so-great experiments another life.