Tulip Pet Urns with Sculpted Relief

Why people choose tulip

Tulips arrive early, before the rest of the garden has decided to bother. They are associated with renewal and with spring in a plainer, less poetic way than cherry blossom.

People often choose this one for a pet who died in winter. There is something in ordering an object covered in early spring flowers during the worst months that owners have told us helped.

How this design is made

Each tulip is formed from separate petals rolled thin and joined while wet, then attached to the body of the jar before it dries. Relief work has to be done in a narrow window: too wet and the flower slumps, too dry and it cracks off in the kiln.

The name plaque is a separate slab, lettered by hand with a stylus and fixed below the flowers. Letters are cut into the clay rather than painted on, so they cannot wear away.

A single glaze is poured over the whole piece and pools in the recesses between petals, which is what gives the relief its depth once fired.

Read more: Why we fire at 1200°C