Molding wet clay inspires within me a spiritual creativeness that results in one-of-a-kind Judaic figurines depicting everyday Jewish life. Explore with me the inner beauty of materials from Hashem….from glistering metallic glazes fused to porcelain to saggar fired clay.
Each handcrafted one-of-a-kind folk art figurine is inspired by people in my Jewish community -- capturing their emotions into clay and create figurines depicting spiritual exploration -- a clay kittel of their heart and soul
Little "Melvin" is made of stoneware and covered with various Raku glazes. Melvin was first hand formed in clay and "bisque" fired to cone 04. He was then allowed to cool off and Raku glazes were carefully applied. He then returned to the kiln the second time at a hotter temperature. At 1850F degrees the kiln door was opened and Melvin was pulled out with heat resistant instruments and placed red hot inside a trash can that was packed with newspaper, sawdust and bananas. As soon as the newspapers caught fire, the lid was carefully placed to produce a carbon reduction atmosphere--which resulted in the beautiful glimmering metalic colors shown. After 20 minutes he was removed sprayed with water to achieve the crackling effect and then was cleaned up. Melvin cleaned up well and later on became the winner of a jury award at an art show.