Nests

Here is something that I am still working out because I am not fully satisfied, but I just needed to share. I just love these teeth so much! Hair and teeth... what's wrong with me? 

Anyway, these were the makeshift "nests" I made to present these porcelain molars on for my BFA review while the real pieces were being fired in the soda kiln.  I suppose the basis of this idea is that teeth, like hair, are found to be precious things, yet take on completely different characteristics when they are not in a person's or animal's mouth.  My mother, AKA the Tooth Fairy, saved my baby teeth when I was young. When she finally showed them to me when I was grown up, these tiny teeth she kept in a box inside of another box seemed to be treasures to be cherished forever.  

With this piece, I wanted to create that odd juxtaposition of a tooth and a nest, something you lose when you are a child kept inside of the home structure of different animals.  A safe haven.  The connection between human and nonhuman, how when it comes down to it, the structure of a home to keep precious things safe is hardly different.  

Each nest is around 2"-3" in diameter and are created with fallen autumn leaves.  Each tooth varies from .5"-.75" in length, and are Helios porcelain slow-fired to cone 06.