clay: greenware candelabra

Last week I played with the extruder in the ceramics studio. I put in smooth red clay to squeeze out a hollowed out hexagonal tube. I didn’t put the die in straight, and so one wall of the tube was too thin and kept tearing. That’s okay as I want to think out what to do with that shape to make candlesticks. Something geometric and minimalist. But I finally extruded coils from which to form a mini tree of life candelabra.   

Luckily, I had watched a YouTube video of a Mexican artist hand build “un arbol de vida” in which she had the tree’s shape already drawn on canvas as a template for where to shape and join the coils. I did the same and had drawn three circles. I was frustrated AF last week on the construction as the clay was too soft and left the tree horizontally flat on a board wrapped in plastic. I had also rolled a slab and kept it slumped over a plaster mold for a bowl. And a week later, it leather hardened enough to construct or to mount the tree vertically onto its slab base. That second Saturday, I also slumped a mini slab bowl to attach at the top to hold a tea light candle. I also press molded flowers and leaves to attach to the candelabra, but I didn’t use armature wire. I’m wondering if my clay will be soft enough to use it like in the examples below.          

These candelabras made by Diana Fayt are muy fabuloso, but I’m not sure I like balls on mine. This example of birds on a wire is so adorable, and eventually I want to construct one as fanciful and elaborate but with a mermaid and fishes and a tree that looks like coral.                    

I also love the addition of fruit on the bird candelabra, and of course I’m gonna go in the direction of kelp and sea fans. Below is an example of the direction I am taking with my tea light holder.                           

Not digging the balls again as embellishment, but maybe I’ll make a braid of thinner coils to edge my tea light bowl and base. I do like also the idea of vining leaves. And a vine with leaves attached with armature wire entwined around my candelabra may be the direction, which makes me think of the opening of the limited series, Station Eleven,” in which the viewer sees that nature has won and is taking over a world man has almost destroyed: the edifice of a theater stage is overgrown by forest and feral hogs are grunting and rooting. I want that story too in my candelabra, and I’ll make its complement in two very simple and geometric straight forms or candlesticks. And coincidentally, this year’s conference theme for the National Council for Education of Ceramic Arts(NCECA)is “Fertile Ground.”