I love working with clay. I usually use air drying clay in my projects: it’s a great medium for sculpting and adding textures and details in miniatures. What’s more, it doesn’t require any additional special tools: you sculpt and it dries. Very easy to use at home even for beginners.

However, air drying clay is much less durable than regular clay and it might deteriorate when in contact with moisture. It also cannot be used for functional pottery such as mugs and bowls, since air drying process does not change it to ceramic. Because of that every air drying clay creation remains porous, making it easy for bacteria to harbor.

Natural clay is much stronger and long-lasting medium, but it has to be fired in a professional kiln, in extremely high temperature. Because of these requirements, this technique is not as easily accessible as using air drying clay. However, many places offer workshops, or firing service for those interested in ceramics. To create my trinket dish I went to a local clay cafe, where materials were provided and I could create whatever I wanted.

The plan was to make a trinket dish. Its purpose was simple: to hold our wedding bands whenever they weren’t on our fingers. I also wanted it to be a piece that looked beautiful displayed on a shelf. A small object with a practical role, yet one that carried a little bit of significance every time we used it.

I didn’t have to look far for inspiration: my cat was already very interested in the wedding bands (one of the reasons I wanted to store them safely), so I immediately thought of sculpting her holding the rings. For this project I made use of one of Zora the kitty’s little quirks: she usually lays on her back instead of on her belly.

With the pictures of my model with me I was ready to start. At first I created the sculpture, which then had to dry off completely. The next stage was adding the glaze. I chose white and reddish-orange to accurately paint her fur with pink for nose and paw-beans detail. I also kept her belly hollow for the wedding bands to fit in. After glazing, I had my project fired – and it was ready.

It has been used ever since!