It's time to wake up and smell the coffee grind, which also happens to be the name of June's clay of the month! I do love myself a caffeinated beverage in the morning to get the brain juices flowing. Grab your cup 'o joe and let's get ready to dive into this clay body!
Coffee Grind is like a cross between Bison (the clay of the month from April) and Peppered Wheat, but with less speckles and a darker base. Upon first look, the specks emulate little bits of coffee grinds, which lend itself to the name. I really do love a speckled clay and it is unusual to find one that is also dark brown.
Feeling how smooth the Coffee Grind clay is right out of the bag.
I was pleasantly surprised with how smooth this clay is. I decided that I wanted to make a small plate this time around, but add little hints of textural elements to keep it simple. This led me to use the GR Circle 8 Pottery Form to drape a slab over it. Plates can be tricky to make, whether you are throwing it on the wheel or hand building it. I’ve only made one prior, so I was ready to attempt to make another one. I allowed the clay to stiffen up a little more before adding those textures.
A slab of Coffee Grind rolled out with a GR Circle 8 Pottery Form.
Once it was almost leather hard, I gave it a healthy spritz of water and began adding little circular indents with the end of a paint brush around the rim. I figured that when I eventually glazed this piece, it would add some visual interest with whatever glaze I ended up using. I used the same paint brush and decided to do some various abstract lines and shapes with it on the actual plate portion. Again, I was hoping that with a glaze, the texture would show through. As always, you never know what will happen or if these details would even show up!
After a successful bisque-firing, it was time for glazing...my favorite part! Glazing has become something very soothing to me, while allowing me to play and experiment. The ideas of what to put on a dark clay body with specks were brewing inside of me as I contemplated what to use.
I wanted to stay on brand for a coffee theme, so I opted to using Amaco’s Matcha Matte Shino glaze. The green shino on dark brown clay might look nice on the mini plate, but alas, it is up to the kiln gods once again. Hopefully, the breaks enhance the abstract designs too! Fingers crossed!
The final result. Fired at Cone 5.
Viola!!! The plate turned out nice. The textures showed up beautifully and the speckles peeked through the shino in quite a stunning way. I do wish more green was present, but if you look closely, there are little chartreuse pockets throughout the plate. There is almost a runic-like quality from the piece, as if it were excavated from an ancient ruin from a far away place.
All in all, I am a big fan of Coffee Grind, so I would absolutely recommend this clay body to those who want something darker, charming and unique to work with. Even unglazed, this clay looks lovely too. 10/10!
Some close up detail shots.
Cindy got in on the Coffee Grind action too! Using a GR Rectangle 5x10 Drape Mold, she hand-built a small tray with it. For some added, subtle texture, an Olander TS-11 Weaves Texture Sphere was used along the surface. After a bisque fire, globs of Amaco's Smokey Merlot, Serpentine Green, and Tuscan Blue with Spectrum's Running Hot Chowder were applied. The final result turned out quite interesting!
Cindy's piece fully fired.
