One of the things that was important to me when we were planning our wedding was an infusion of hand-made ceramics. In case you didn’t know, ceramics is my thing. 🙂
ceramic vase centerpiece
{image courtesy of Sheila Addleman}
I decided early on that I wanted to make ceramic vases for the centerpieces as well as some sort of small ceramic vessel that would both be decor and double as favors for our guests. For the favors, I was partially influenced by my parents’ wedding – they had an artist friend who made them over a hundred little wheel-thrown bowls with their wedding date glazed on the lip and the phrase “love endures forever.” These bowls decorated the reception tables – each with a single floating flower – and the guests got to take one home to remember the event.
tea light
{image courtesy of Sheila Addleman}
Rather than make bowls for flowers, I decided I wanted my ceramic favors to hold tea lights for a bit of ambiance at the tables.
ceramic lace tea light holders
{image courtesy of Sheila Addleman}
I really wanted to incorporate the lace from my mom’s wedding dress as a key element of the design. She had saved the left-over fabric from her dress, and I have been using it on quite a few of my pieces as of late. By laying the lace over a rolled-out slab of clay and then running my rolling pin over the top, I get an awesome impression of the lace.
ceramic lace vase - detail
{image courtesy of Sheila Addleman}
Both the vases and the tea light holders used the lace pattern, and both are formed by rolling slabs into cylinders. It took me a year to get them all done (well…since I started early I knew I could take my time!) and I wanted to keep it a secret, too, since they would be our gift to our guests.
all the tea light holders!
The tea light holders were a big hit with our guests, and many of my relatives who attended my parents’ wedding recognized the connection, which made me happy!
And there was one final touch that M and I made sure of: for our friends and family who RSVP’ed that they couldn’t make it to the wedding – the week before, we mailed out tea light holders to them (candle included) with a little note, telling them we would miss them and if they would light a candle for us on our special day and hold us in their hearts. We really wanted to include them in our celebration, even though they couldn’t be there in person.
tea lights for mailing
Lastly, an announcement! The vases from our wedding will be available in my Etsy shop! And ALSO, I will have a booth at the Renton Art Walk this Saturday, where I’ll be showing lots of my sculptures, as well as plenty of smaller items for sale (including the beautiful and unique vases from my wedding!!!!). Hope to see you there!
{image courtesy of Sheila Addleman}
jadeflower 