Birds. Sparrows, ducks, geese. I love them all. Even when I see pigeons suddenly take off in formation from telephone wires, I can’t help myself. I stop and smile up at them in wonder.

But the peacock belongs to a class of its own. This bird is special in many cultures. To Native Americans, it most closely describes the phoenix—the bird that burns itself up—and then rises from its ashes. That’s why it’s related to immortality. Due to the many eyes in its feathers, the peacock is also connected with wisdom, visions, and increased watchfulness.

For one of my ceramic projects, I set out to sculpt a peacock. And in keeping with my motto that all my pieces must be both beautiful and serve a purpose, I decided I would create a peacock candle holder.

Making the peacock involved four separate stages.

Stage1
I sculpted the body of the peacock with a head, crest, neck and wings. Then I made two very short cylinders (half an inch high), attaching them to the body. These would serve as the candle holders. I carved out deep enough hollows inside these cylinders so the candles could stand securely in them.

Stage 2
For the tail, I rolled out a slab of clay, one-quarter of an inch thick and made a semi-circle (radius approximately eight inches). Then I started making the tail feathers. Using a garlic press, I produced numerous thin strands of clay, each eight inches long and attached them to the mid-point of the base of the semi-circle, fanning out to the outer edge.

For the eyes of the feathers, I rolled out about one hundred little balls of clay. Yes, one hundred! I pressed each ball with a special stamp. This stamp converted the balls into oval pieces of clay and imprinted them with a design that resembles an aerial view of a snail’s shell.

Stage 3
Bruce, the clay facilitator at Creative Works Studio took over at this point. He carved out a cone-shaped hollow from the back of the bird’s body. Next he made a clay cone to match the hollow space he had created inside the back of the bird and attached this to the tail. Using enough slip, he expertly assembled the two pieces together. And there, sitting in front of me was my peacock. Like magic!

Stage 4
The peacock was fired in the kiln. Using different-coloured underglazes, I painted the white bisque. It went into the kiln a second time. When it came out of the kiln this time, I coated the peacock with a clear glaze to add a shine to it.

When I started this project, I had no idea how challenging it would be. Or how labour-intensive. Creating the tail (with all the veins and eyes) and then painting each eye one by one took such a lo…ong time. The funny thing is even if I had known beforehand what I was getting into, I would have gone on full steam ahead. You see, the time and labour was well worth it. I have a very beautiful ceramic piece which now adorns my living room.