Colored grog?

[gwendolyn.r.kelly@gmail.co]

Hi! I'm new on here but I've had an idea that I would love to try and put into practice.

I love the look of raw clay surfaces but I'd like to add a surprise pop of color, so I had the idea to have colored grog! For example, a mug with a base of tan/brown clay but tiny rainbow sandy bits instead of the normal white/brown/black that is the only type I can seem to find. 

I've considered using colored glass and sand, but I know most colored sands probably won't stay colorful after the kiln, and glass bits might be sharp to work with, not very colorful in tiny pieces, or perhaps might melt in the clay? Is my only option to tint clay myself, then bisque and smash to grind up and incorporate?

I'd love any ideas or input, I have been sculpting for many years but have never dabbled much in clay composition or chemistry.

[liambesaw]

Make colored clay from your clay by wedging in Mason stains, and then roll into thin sheets and fire to maturity.  Then pound it up into tiny pieces and that's how you make colored grog

[Callie Beller Diesel]

Hi and welcome!

I’ve never seen commercially available coloured grog, so as Liam says the best way is to make your own. I think though, it might be easier to take your mix when it’s leather hard and grate it into fine pieces with something like a rasp before firing in a bowl, rather than pounding it after. If you’re working wet, it helps keep the dust down. 

[oldlady]

callie, i am sure that liam intended to say put the sheets into a heavy plastic bag before pounding outside on a concrete sidewalk.

[liambesaw]

6 hours ago, oldlady said:

callie, i am sure that liam intended to say put the sheets into a heavy plastic bag before pounding outside on a concrete sidewalk.

That or in a large piece of PVC, like 4 or 6 inch, with an endcap, you can put it all inside and use a rod to smash it up in the tube, that's the method I use.  Then I add water and pour it over a series of "classifying" sieves.  Large to small.

[CactusPots]

There is such a thing as commercial black grog.  I got some from my supplier, but I don't know it's ultimate source.  It's similar in size to the regular grog. 

I've settled on applying a mix of white sand blast sand, red sand and black grog to still wet white shino.  Fired to cone 10, it's a pretty good even surface of sand.  It doesn't melt.  If you use a shino with good percentage of soda ash, it comes back with an orange background.

As for the homemade grinding, I'v tried that with glass to get an additive for my wood ash glaze drip mix.  A lot of work, unless you only need a little bit.