Mycelium, mushrooms and fungi are some of the most fascinating parts of the natural world. It may sound fanciful, but for me Mycelium is the earth's equivalent of the brain's neural synapses. These mushroom spirits are an expression of the reverence I have for spirit of the Funghi and the energies that pulsate through our planet that are still not truly understood.
They are needless to say a play on the fly agaric mushroom that are joyously dotted through the countryside from late summer to early winter here in the UK. It has been closely associated with the Northern European and Asiatic shamans and their rituals, and was once said to have been given to the Vikings pre battle, but in terms the reactions it can invoke this is now widely believed to be highly improbable for this particular species.
The body of these pieces are glazed in Shino, to pull out the details and to create an interesting texture against the head of the pieces and the detachable mushroom. The head and mushroom are glazed first with a red underglaze, then it is coated with a combination of clear glaze, amber celadon and temmoku glaze to get a richness to the red that I haven't been able to achieve without this unusual combination. The mushrooms spots have then been added afterwards in white underglaze to achieve the nobbly white specks on the top of the fly agaric. The mushroom hats can be placed on the head of the mushroom spirits, but they can be knocked off quite easily if touched. They sit on without sliding straight off because the underside of the mushroom is mat and the spots are too, but hats all that holds it there. The mushrooms have been made to double as a joss stick holder as the photos show.
Please note: because of technical reasons, colours might appear different on your screen. Please also note that our items are hand made and are not "perfect" in every sense. They will bear the marks of the handmade pottery creation process that is missing from mass produced items.
