I can imagine using these bowls serving appetizers, fruit, vegetables, soups, stews. Mica pottery can be placed in an oven for baking (fruit & berry crumbles and compotes would be heavenly). This clay imparts an earthy flavor and a kiss from our earth mother.
I can also imagine these cairn bowls holding treasures & keepsakes. I see them stacked artfully in a healing room or meditation corner, each bowl holding something precious, like a crystal or healing stone. The shape and profile of these stacked cairn bowls reminds me of a stupa, the Buddhist commemorative monument usually housing sacred relics associated with the Buddha or other saintly persons.
Made from unglazed terra cotta clay from New Mexico, dug very near to where we live. The natural mica in this clay shimmers with golden flecks of light. Each bowl has a unique smoke design or "fire cloud", which is a gift from the final wood firing.
Size: Stacked: 7" wide x 14" tall, when stacked.
Unstacked: largest bowl is 7" x 3", then 6" x 3", 5" x 3", 4" x 3" and the top cairn bowl with lid, 3.5" x 5".
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Each bowl is dated and signed with my potter's name Patch.
About my process:
I throw and trim my mica pots on my potter's wheel in my adobe studio/greenhouse, then meticulously polish with a smooth stone to create a lustrous surface. This burnishing of the surface takes the place of a glaze. No additional glaze is applied, making these pots naturally chemical-free. After the pots are polished, buffed and fully dry, I fire them in my small kiln to 1800 degrees. A second firing it in a wood pit fire creates the "fire clouds" When the burning wood makes contact with the clay wall of the pot a smokey image forms. Each fire cloud is unique, a true gift of the fire.
I make offerings and prayers with blue corn at every stage of the process of creating a vessel. Each cup I've made seems to require from 8 - 10 hours of tender loving hands-on care, from clay to fired pot. It is signed with my potter's name Patch, (a name I was given at UC Santa Cruz when I first learned to throw pottery back in the sixties) and dated 2011.
This clay is unlike any other clay I've known during my forty years as a potter. The mica comprises up to 80% of the clay body, and has a healing quality. Mica has been used in Native American medicine bags for protection and thwarting negativity. I find its energy signature to be of an angelic being, named Micah, who has accompanied me on a recent healing journey and will come when called.
Caring for your mica pottery:
"Seasoning": I have coated this vessel with olive oil and baked it in a 350 oven for 30 minutes. This process forms a seal in the clay body. I would suggest hand washing with hot water only, no soap necessary, no dishwasher please. You may re-season your pottery occasionally, if desired, or simply wipe the walls with a clean cloth and a splash of olive oil. A lovely patina will form on the vessel over time.
I do not place my mica pots in the microwave, out of respect for the clay.
Have any questions?
Contact the shop owner.
