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This palm-sized turtle is the result of a slow, multi-day process that begins out on the land. Made from wild clay of western Pennsylvania and spring water both sourced from the land we steward and love. the clay is dug directly from the earth. Processing raw wild clay requires days of drying, breaking down, slaking in pure spring water, sifting out stones, and wedging the body by hand to make it workable. Once sculpted, the piece undergoes an intense, unpredictable micro-batch sauna firing in our outdoor sauna we built near our spring.. The volatile atmosphere of the fire interacts directly with the minerals in the wild clay, leaving behind raw flashing marks, smoky gradients, and distinct ash deposits that make this specific turtle impossible to replicate.
Every line on its shell carries the physical history of the earth, water, and wood smoke that formed it, a grounding, narrative-driven collectible that took hours of field harvesting and studio labor to bring into focus.
Carefully and intentionally imperfect, hand-formed without the use of tools, only my hands and a tiny stick from nature to draw the simple details. Polished with a rich, protective beeswax sourced from a friend’s abundant source of beeswax from their own apiary in Jefferson Hills, PA.
This palm-sized turtle is the result of a slow, multi-day process that begins out on the land. Made from wild clay of western Pennsylvania and spring water both sourced from the land we steward and love. the clay is dug directly from the earth. Processing raw wild clay requires days of drying, breaking down, slaking in pure spring water, sifting out stones, and wedging the body by hand to make it workable. Once sculpted, the piece undergoes an intense, unpredictable micro-batch sauna firing in our outdoor sauna we built near our spring.. The volatile atmosphere of the fire interacts directly with the minerals in the wild clay, leaving behind raw flashing marks, smoky gradients, and distinct ash deposits that make this specific turtle impossible to replicate.
Every line on its shell carries the physical history of the earth, water, and wood smoke that formed it, a grounding, narrative-driven collectible that took hours of field harvesting and studio labor to bring into focus.
Carefully and intentionally imperfect, hand-formed without the use of tools, only my hands and a tiny stick from nature to draw the simple details. Polished with a rich, protective beeswax sourced from a friend’s abundant source of beeswax from their own apiary in Jefferson Hills, PA.