Small Raven Skull Candle Holder For Mini Tapers

So quoth the raven... 

If you have a penchant for the macabre, love Halloween all year round, or just want to get in the spirit these are perfect for you.  I sculpted these for funsies one day and just fell in love with the possibilities. The finished holder is just large and heavy enough to secure the base of my mini taper candles. The opening is roughly 1/2". I either press mold or slip cast stoneware or porcelain to make these when I have spare time and room in the kiln to place a few more.

The base of the holder is roughly 1.5" wide, 2.25" from the tip of the beak to the base of the skull and have an overall height of about 0.5". These are wide and hefty enough to hold a mini taper securely, but small enough to not overwhelm your space.  If you burn your candles somewhere drafty enough to force a drip, these will not contain the spill.

I glaze them in the most popular colors like white, matte black, but often try out new glaze combos on them. I like aged bone of white with a wash of iron oxide and dabs of green moldy moss, or black with shiny silvery metallic accents. When I stumble onto a new color that moves me I share them here first.

The holders are packaged in a cute little kraft paper folding box, so they are gift ready.

Given the nature of pottery clay and the hand made process, the sizes and colors vary slightly from holder to holder. I like to call them sisters, just not identical twins. When complete, every holder is as individual as you are. 

I make them using the age old process that begins with preparing "wet" clay.  It takes several days to dry the piece, then it is trimmed and smoothed by hand and put into a bisque firing with others in the series to magically change it to a more permanent piece of art.

The clays I use are fired twice. The first fire takes about 24 hours to heat to just over 1900* Farenheight, After about 24 hours the kiln is cool enough to open so I can apply my custom glazes. The second 24 hour firing process is to 2200*F to melt and set the glaze and fully cool, package and send to you or your special giftee.