Dark Sunset Sky Porcelain Barrette with Gold Luster Trim
Dark Sunset Sky Porcelain Barrette with Gold Luster Trim
A porcelain barrette, wheel-thrown for durability and for a natural arch. Trimmed/carved slightly for lightness. Sky and clouds painted by hand with under-glazes, then fired to Cone 6.
4.5” l x 1.75” w .75” h, approx.
This is a large barrette, so it might require a ponytail, or braids, or other structure to support it.
Barrette clasp reads “Made in France,” from the original French factory, which went out of business. (I stocked up a decade ago.) The original French barrettes somehow don’t snag as much. Uses archival ceramic epoxy and durable, tested silicone for the clip attachment. (I’ve been wearing barrettes with this silicone and epoxy for a decade now without need for repair.)
I usually use my own photo-references, but this painting was inspired by an incredible sunset photo by Joaquim Alves Gaspar.
Made in October 2024
Barrettes! Why barrettes? I’ve been wearing barrettes in my hair since my Intro to Clay class in college. I’d worn my hair long since I was a teenager, and when I would wear it back in a braid in my first pottery class there was still a good chance that a stray hair could catch a pot and slice off the top of, say, a tall stacked vase— true story. After I destroyed a pot or two on the wheel I started wrapping my hair around my head and securing it in place with an assortment of vintage barrettes my aunt had given me. I liked the style and the idea so much that I started making my own porcelain barrettes when I was working on my 36 Shots of Pikes Peak series from 2014-2017. I painted so many clouds in that series that I developed a new appreciation and obsession with cloudscapes. My eyes were always on the sky and I wanted to wear clouds in my hair.
