Naked Raku Spiral Spheres - sets of three - Solitaire Sphere and Urn
By Emma Falcke
Original, unique artworks
Hand-thrown naked raku inscribed stoneware
Spheres sold in sets of three – sizes of each set vary, with diameters of each sphere - large, medium and small - from 22.5cm to 12cm
Sphere Trios £345, per set of three - TWO AVAILABLE
Sphere Trio (pink hue, slightly smaller) £275, per set of three - SOLD
Large Solitaire Sphere, 22cm diamater - £225
Lidded Naked Raku Urn - H: 11cm (without lid), D: 22.5cm - £255
Emma's striking and clever ceramic creations first arrived in the gallery last year and sold out. These are new pieces for the start of the 2024 season. They are rare in design and making, combining a perfection of form and mark with the utter randomness of the exciting and primitive raku firing process.
The fascinating spheres are designed to cluster in trios of diminishing sizes, to suggest their own mini planetary systems, orbiting a central point. Each set has different mark types, pattern density and coloration.
There are various stages in the making of these two-tone spheres...
First, they are individually hand-thrown in stoneware or porcelain in a graded series of sizes. Once leather hard, they are hand-burnished before an initial biscuit firing at 1000°C in an electric kiln. Emma then adds slip, followed by a fine glaze and decorates the surface by scoring through the layers with the distinctive spiralling marks.
The work is fired in a Raku kiln to approximately 900°C and then, whilst still glowing hot, the spheres are transferred into a bed of sawdust. The burning of the sawdust burns through to the clay body and into the layers of slip as the glaze shells off, leaving the surface crackle and wonderful black patternation of the incised spiral marks, making each piece unique, every time.
The final stage is to wax and polish the surface to bring out the lustre and enhance the markings.
Also in this new range is a large Solitaire Sphere and flat-topped wide Urns with concentric loops as surface decoration (based on beach stones, or 'wishing stones'), which can be displayed with or without lids.
Via the gallery, further commissions can be organised, including taller urns in the same form and style.
ABOUT EMMA FALCKE
Influenced by a family background populated by artists, Emma's passion for ceramics started from an early age. Her mother sculpted in the kitchen whilst her father painted in his studio next-door.
It was a natural step for Emma to study ceramics full time from 1984-1988 at Medway College of Design in Rochester, Kent, now University for the Creative Arts (UCA). She was trained by world experts and visiting lecturers including Colin Pearson, Peter Beard and John Pollox .
This rich and influential foundation inspired her to set up her own studio in Kent with fellow graduates where she established her business making, selling and exhibiting decorative ceramics for the home and garden.
In 1997, she relocated to the Midlands, set up her workshop at the Canal Basin in Coventry and began teaching at Warwickshire College. She now runs a successful ceramics department at Warwickshire College and works from her basement studio in Leamington Spa.
Her work has been exhibited throughout England and she has been involved in mixed exhibitions in France and the USA.