There is nothing like leaving things to the last minute. That is me. Totally me. Although this time I thought about it 13 days before it was needed, not 2 days like I usually do!
On Tuesday after work, I was thinking about what my Mum and Mother-in-law might like for Mother’s Day. I thought a handmade family tree might be thoughtful gift. Within a few hours I had done some rough stick-figure sketches and had built a rough prototype out of clay.
Through the build of this rustic couple, I realised a number of things. The first being, I had rolled the clay way too thick, so it was going to be too heavy. The second being, I needed to refine the size. Finally, that reproducing this a number of times wasn’t going to be as easy as first thought.
I spent the Wednesday refining my design and trying to figure out a better way to cut the pieces. On Thursday, I found a supplier who would be willing to custom make me some “people” cookie cutters. By Friday I had finalised the design and ordered seven custom cutters. Now came the agonising waiting for my parcel to arrive.
From Thursday when the parcel arrived and Sunday lunchtime which happened to be Mother’s Day. It was a blur of cutting slabs, cutting “people” with my new cutters, trimming and smoothing the pieces, cutting holes for hanging, bisque firing, glazing and then glaze firing. Now talk about cutting it fine, I was pulling warm pieces out of the kiln on the morning of Mother’s Day, the day the gifts were to be presented to the important women in my life.
These pieces were made out of an off white clay, glazed on the front with a shiny white glaze. I then handwrote the names on each piece with a permanent marker. This was another piece of trial and error that paid off because I then realised wasn’t permanent on glaze. It was however permanent with a spray of clear gloss paint which sealed the identity for each person.
The longest ‘hands on’ part of the exercise was stringing the pieces up to resemble the family tree. It took a lot of experimenting to try and work out how long a piece of string should be and how to make the knots look perfect.
I am happy to report that both my Mum and Mother-in-law LOVED their gifts in the end.
I hope that you too will enjoy a handmade family tree. You are only constrained by your creativity in displaying these pieces.
Love fishing? Hang them off an old rod.
Love baking? Hang them off a wooden spoon.
If you’d prefer a more colourful display instead of plain white, then paint them with poster paint and seal with clear gloss.
Family has become even more important and central to us all during this time, so with this piece of personalised ceramic art you celebrate those closest to your heart.
What do you think? Should we consider adding pets?
Visit our shop to see our pieces.
https://shop.glassceramics.com.au/misc/95-family-tree-pieces.html
