Which comes first …. the vessel or the foliage ? This time it was a combination of both …I collected these majestic bulrushes last year on my way to Hornby Island  ( a wet swampy experience ) dried them and tied a bundle with twine. They looked amazing just as a bundle propped up in a corner. Then last fall I started working with a black clay and a mottle glaze which I applied very thick so it made the clay pit and bubble in the firing and I remembered the bulrushes left behind on Hornby waiting….

The rest just fell into place….. The bulrushes were so imposing it had to be a very simplistic vase, but quite tall and I tried to follow the line of the black bulbs at the tops. The oxidized copper wire, tag, and swallow are just an afterthought !