My Buddhist teacher died last October. A lot of earth was dug out to make his grave and I was given two huge bucket loads. Such a gift.

I processed this and discovered that the clay that was excavated was very pure and beautiful. I went about the long process of sieving it of sticks and stones, slaking it in water, and letting the slurry evaporate to become like clay.

Then I went about testing it for shrinkage and resilience to the high heat of the kiln. Finally after deciding on a mix of this raw clay with my own bought clay, I am making devotional items including symbolic alms bowls and malas (Buddhist rosaries).

These offer the owner of such an item a special connection with our teacher and act as a reminder of death and impermanence.

#Ceramics #Commission #rawclay #processingclay #devotion #shrine #stoneware #mala #almsbowl #Buddhism #gifts

To find out more, head to the Ritual page of the website.