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Sludge Craft
Brief
SLUDGE CRAFT is a joyful trash-to-treasure workflow which converts waste clay slip ("slop") and waste waterjet abrasive ("sludge") into a unique ceramic composite that is strong, abrasive, expressive, and laser-glaze-able. Zach Fredin and I first studied this fascinating material at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, ME, as part of Haystack Labs 2025. Thank you to all the participants that contributed ideas, materials, and sculptures to the project!
A little more context: Fab Labs & makerspaces are deeply important creative community hubs, but as facilitators and technicians we are keenly aware of the ongoing battle against waste. Laser cutters produce a constant stream of fussy offcuts; chop saws yield increasingly unusable stubs of dimensional lumber; 3D printers leave a trail of support material and test parts; the list goes on, and in our experience, is often invisible to community members. As we build out a new fabrication center at The Metro in Kingston, NY, we are keen to push the waste needle towards awareness and reuse.
SLUDGE CRAFT serves two purposes. The project itself, a joyful sprint through experimentation and craft during a brief visit to the Maine coast, tells a compelling story about reusing the waste produced by one of the key machines we are putting in the new space. But more broadly, the process we demonstrated at Haystack -- participatory experimentation, joyful tangents, active community participation, and a deep connection to craft and artistry -- will serve as a model for all the material reuse workshops we will hold in the future as we aim to render our trash cans obsolete. - Janet & Zach
Timeframe
2025
Audience
All ages
Collaborators
Zach Fredin (and many contributors from Haystack Labs 2025!)
Rabbit Hole
