Umbrella Stand

Many years ago, a very good friend bought me a truly delightful umbrella. Very Victorian gothic, and awfully apt for Maxipoppins. Rather than use this umbrella, I would prefer to display it and so the search for a suitable umbrella stand began. Several years later and one had still not been located, so I set to work designing something that would both fit in my wee kiln, Bernt, and fit in my hall. It was a complex build in terms of engineering, due to the size. I opted to slab build and a couple of forms and several large balloons later, I had the basic form. I used stoneware and incorporated wire and bead work, along with several odds and ends of metal items, such as clock hands and cogs and bees, that I had loitering around my studio. I wanted the beads and metal work to be the star and so I used a transparent crackle glaze over a white stoneware clay body.