First Blog...

I have been playing with gilders wax and achieving different surface qualities...

These latest beads are inspired by Nigerian clay pots, my passion for African pots started when I seen a large storage pot in the British Museum in London that was made by Igbo people around 1954. I stumbled across this when I was about 18 years old and studying for my BA(hons) Ceramics. 
I was taken by the scale and practical qualities it possessed...
The design of this round yet pointy pot was to store water in a hot environment. In order to do this the pot had a round bottom for stability on the sand, so that it could be dug into the ground away from the heat of the sun and for ease when carrying.
It had a big round belly, a small neck, a sturdy lip and three coiled lug handles that bridged the distance of the neck and chest. The main body of the pot was covered in nobbles of clay.
This pot and others like it were normally low fired in pits which left a smokey effect and sometimes a red/orange glow on the surface. Animal fat was readily available and this was rubbed into the porous surface then burnished as a way to make the pots water tight.

This is the pot from the British Museum

The shape and surface of my beads are influenced by the similarities between pots and the human body. The way a mug has a belly, a foot, a handle to fit your hand and a lip to fit your mouth. These beads may have belly's, lips, legs, necks and arms, and a polished skin like surface. 
Shapes are developing every time I sit down at my desk to make and working with red clay again has brought back this passion for African pottery once more.

More beads...

....have a peek at my work at www.raggedrobyn.etsy.com