Ceramic Pet Memorials
Unique, handcrafted custom pet urns and pet memorials as unique as the relationship you share with your pet
Welcome to Mud Kitten Pottery custom pet sculptures and urns. I offer custom pet sculptures (memorials) and urns which you help to design. My work is all handmade from wheel-thrown and hand-built stoneware pottery and glazes in the high desert of Twin Falls, Idaho. I offer an option of incorporating your pet’s ashes into the sculpture itself, giving your pet a “new life”. I love what I do, and I want you to love your pet's memorial.
How Your Pet Sculpture is Created
The overall process of pottery (or ceramics) begins with the shaping of powdered rock in the form of clay into a form by hand or with the use of a potter’s wheel. The form is then fired in a kiln to firm up the clay, making it easier to handle for decoration. Next, the piece is decorated with coloring agents such as glazes, ongobes, and stains. The work is then fired a second time at very high temperatures, which melts it into glass.
The inspiration for this type of sculpture came from the loss of one of my own beloved pets (a Maine Coon named Ernie who is the “sun” in my portfolio). It took months of research, trial and error before I was comfortable combining cremains into the clay body.
I start with a lump of wet clay. If I am incorporating ashes into it, I carefully “wedge” the ashes into the clay, which is a bit like kneading bread dough. The sculpture is formed by hand using slab and coil techniques. Sometimes the partly formed sculpture is set aside to dry for a day or two until the clay hardens sufficiently for the next step, such as attaching a piece or carving.
After your pet's sculpture is finished being crafted, I set it aside to dry in a process that takes a week or two, and sometimes longer depending on the weather and outside humidity as well as the complexity and design of the individual piece. This is a crucial stage and can't be rushed.
Once it is completely dry, the now extremely fragile piece is then given its initial firing, called "Bisque" or "Biscuit" firing, to about 1900°F. At this point, the sculpture is "half-baked" and can still absorb water because the tiny particles of clay have not yet melted and fused together.
Glazes are powdered minerals and raw chemicals that are mixed with water into a chalky liquid which looks nothing at all like it will after it is fired and turned into a glass. They are tricky to apply and can be totally unpredictable in the wild atmosphere of a kiln at 2200°F, the temperature of its second firing. It can take many hours to stain, glaze and wax just one of the more detailed sculptures. (Waxing is a method used to keep glaze from adhering to a piece in places, such as the bottom where it will sit on the kiln shelf.)
It is important to understand the nature of pottery before you consider ordering custom pottery. The ceramic items you find at the larger retail stores are not handmade. The process for commercial ceramics is much different, which is why all the plates or cups in a set are identical.
Handmade pottery is never perfect. I promise to spell everything right, and to get the dates right, but I ask that you allow for and appreciate the many subtle imperfections inherent in pottery. Working with glazes is not at all like working with paints, and so matching your pet's color exactly is chancy! There are always surprises. Glazes run, colors hardly ever come out the same way twice, and sometimes contaminants in the clay body itself can lead to slight pitting or bubbling. The same glaze fired in the same kiln, but in different areas within it can come out drastically different from piece to piece, firing to firing, or even sometimes from one side of a piece to the other! For example; grays can develop bluish tones or rusty reds can turn brown. We ask that you be flexible about this. I promise I will do my best to control these factors, but pottery is ALWAYS risky! This unpredictability is part of the magic of this art.
One final consideration before ordering a custom pet memorial from Mud Kitten Pottery is time. If time is an issue, you're better off not ordering a custom piece.
How the Process Works
- I meet with you in person, or over the phone, for a FREE consult so that I can become familiar with you and your pet, and together we make a design plan
- I will give you a price quote based on the size, style, and complexity of the piece
- If you choose to have your pet’s cremains incorporated into the sculpture, you deliver those to me either in person or via some type of reliable shipping; for urns, there is no need for me to have the ashes since you can add those later
- I deliver the final piece to you in person, or if you’re not in my area, ship it to you
Pricing
Prices vary based on size, complexity of design and overall style of each piece. Sculptures that require hand building, carving and detail are going to take more time than simpler pieces, such as a traditional urn. The prices for the pieces shown in this brochure range from $300 to $500, not including shipping and handling.
My main concern is that you understand all that is involved, and that you be prepared for the unique experience of helping to design your pet's sculpture or urn by working directly with the artist. Most people aren't used to ordering hand made items anymore--you buy what is on the shelf, and you know what you're getting before you get it. Pottery is always a surprise and takes a lot of time, skill and expensive machinery to make! If you're prepared to go on this journey with me, I guarantee that you will end up with a beautiful, one-of-a-kind work of art, made just for you, which you helped to design. Where else can you find that?
