«It’s Very Hot in Brazil»

I sat in a swimsuit at the kitchen bar counter, taking online lessons in ceramic tableware. The assignment was to make a cup. But the word “cup” felt too tight for me, and I rolled out a larger slab. In my head were images of dried flowers washed up on the ocean shore. The fading of the old me or the blooming of the new — but something was certainly “bursting” from inspiration with a new passion. I stretched the moulded vessel from the inside and marvelled at how plastic the clay was, never tearing. For a long time the vase stayed uncoated, and here’s what happens when you wait so long: the dried flower turned into a bud. First I covered it in “foam”, but I didn’t like its reaction with this clay, and I lost patience — several layers of glossy red glaze settled over the former dried flower.