Transfigured Earth Studio

This piece began as wild local clay, dug from the ground on my friends farm, processed by hand, and wheel turned into a lovely closed pedistal form topped with a decorative finial knob. These sorts of forms are found in several contexts within the southern folk tradition, sometimes referred to as “grave marker” due to their resemblance to early pottery grave stones produced by various potteries… and they are also sometimes called “wig stands” or “hat stands”, as such forms where also used for such purposes, the knob functioning to allow for good ventilation and drying of the uses preferred head coving.

Whatever we wish to call this form, they are certainly the perfect host for the sculpting of a face. Each detail is carefully pushed in, built up, sculpted, refined, and textured all by hand over many hours. After the form is thrown, each face takes me a week or two until the sculpting is finished, hair is added, and fine details realized. This fellow here takes the form of a very tranquil face, in this chaotic world we live in, reckon we would do well to follow his example, find our peace in it all.

After i sculpted this guy, i have inlaid multiple chips of moonstone from the mountains into the soft clay, which have expanded in the firing to yield gorgeous pearl like accents. This piece is dressed in an absolutely stunning glaze of my own formulation which i call “palantir stone” (after the mystical seeing stones in the writings of Tolkien). The pictures dont truly do it justice,  must be seen in person, especially in sunlight. It has been fired to over 2350f in my friends kiln, so it is sturdy and even weather resistant if you wish to display it outdoors. It stands roughly 11.5″ tall

*Note to customers* i do not offer automatic checkout, because of the wide range of shapes and sizes of pieces i make, order sizes, and diverse locations of clientele, i find it best to offer custom shipping quotes and payment options to best cater to my patrons. After placing your order, please keep an eye on your email, where i will respond (generally within 24 hours) to offer a shipping quote, and payment options. Thank you for your patronage and understanding