Clay Basket

This is basket number four... I am trying to make it the most similar i could to a real straw basket. Every time i see one, I try to focus more on how the straw is been woven and try to think the easiest way to reproduced them in clay. As every one know the best way to be better in something is practicing, starting tomorrow (always tomorrow), I will try to make one basket every week. Let see if I succeed in this goal.

Esta es la cuarta canasta de arcilla que hago... estoy tratando de que sean cada vez lo mas parecidas a las canastas de paja. Cada vez que veo una canasta de paja, trato de enfocarme en como la paja ha sido tejida y pienso cual sera la forma mas sencilla de reproducirla en arcilla. Como todo mundo sabe la manera mas efectiva de ser bueno o buena en algo es practicando... asi que, a partir de manana (siempre manana) voy a tratar de hacer una canasta a la semana. Veremos si logro mi cometido.

Jewelry

Inca's designs...

 

Tray

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Tocapus

I think I spend more time thinking of my next project than actually doing it . . . what can I do, I asked myself, that will not require much material but will let me play with different colors of glass?  What can it be?  It will have to be something that will work in  bigger proportions . . .  I ended up making coasters using Tocapus designs.

Tocapus may sound like a funny and strange word if you are not Peruvian or if you are not familiar with Incan culture. Tocapus are designs in the Incas' clothing—sometimes they are embroidered and some other times they are part of a complex design of woven textiles. During Inca's time, cloth with this kind of design was considered luxurious.  Therefore, just the Inca himself, the nobles, priest, and the top echelons of  Inca society could use them. 

Nobody knows for certain the exact meaning of the Tocapus, but we Peruvians believe (and there are some theses validating this) that Tocapus are a pictographic language, just like the Kanjis for Chinese and Japanese culture. In other words, one Tocapu (just like one Kanji) means one idea or one word. There is the believe that the Tocapus in the Inca's cloak tell the story of his lineage, wealth and achievements under his reign.

So back to my story, I made coasters having some Tocapus designs on my mind.   The last one has been transformed into a tiny plate.

You can read a little more about Tocapus here:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,909586,00.html