Cute cat jewelry holder made with vintage crochet doily pressed into clay #satisfying #pottery #art

I found this vintage lace crochet among a box of vintage doilies that I rescued from being thrown out. They are each a handmade treasure and I love honoring them in my work and giving them a new life. The impressions the crochet makes in clay are really beautiful. The patterns also inspired the idea of little rugs with cats and dogs asleep on them. Here is a jewelry dish with a little sleeping kitty. 🐈 After I press the doily into soft ceramic clay, you can see the beautiful impressions made. I form the dish shape by hand, and then I sculpt a little cat and a ball of yarn out of the same clay. While the clay is still soft, I join the sleeping cat and the ball of yarn to the dish using ceramic slip. I paint the cat and ball of yarn with ceramic underglazes and I apply ceramic glaze to the entire piece- that’s the white liquid you see me dipping the piece into. Now the piece is placed into and fired in an electric pottery kiln to over 2200°F/1200°C. The accent on the edge is a layer of real 22kt gold, and I love how it looks agains the turquoise ceramic. I apply the gold by hand after the glaze firing, and the piece is fired again in the kiln to melt and bond the gold. I just finished a batch of these orange tabby cats, If you’re wondering about other cats and dogs, I do batches of various colors and breeds here and there - if you have a favorite you’d like to see, let me know in the comments. #crochetlove #catart #ceramics #vuvuceramics