Collecting and preparing organic matter

I have been toying with a multitude of ideas about organic matter to include and test for burnout. Since I am not currently working within a business environment it felt cathartic to attempt to include a shirt, a symbolic act perhaps but with serious connotations to aspects of my life. I knew in order to throw with the elements of the shirt then it would need to broken down into smaller pieces so I thought I would try to use a garden shredder to do this task. Sadly the machine kept jamming.

I have also collected wood ash from our winter fires, which I know can be used as a glaze, collect plant material from the local common, hoover bags (dust=skin plus pet hair etc ) felt from the clothes drier ....pretty much anything and everything I have a connection with, might burn out of clay and is part of my daily experiences. I have even tried mixing shreddies with slip to see if I could retain the weave shape. Unfortunately they fermented and dissolved. What I learnt from this though was that moisture content either of the clay or of the object is a serious practical concern!