When I first began creating ceramic jewelry, having the backs of my pieces glazed was important to me, particularly for earrings. I was using commercial bead racks and hanging my pieces on them with nichrome wire for the glaze firing. While the rods and racks are great for beads, I was running into issues when hanging other jewelry items from them: they were time consuming to load, the bead rods often sagged, pieces fell off during firing, and they took up too much space in the kiln. To solve these problems, I created my own system that is simple to make, efficient to load and unload, sturdy and compact, and reusable for approximately 50–100 firings. 

To create the tree, you’ll need: 16-gauge Kanthal A1 resistance wire, a clay body rated at or above your firing range, a pair of round-nose pliers, and a wire cutter. 

1 Throw a bottomless cylinder with a collared middle and flared overhang. Compress and thicken the rim. 2 Using round-nose pliers, fashion U-shaped pins to surround the rim of the tree.

To start, throw the base of the tree on the wheel as a bottomless cylinder. You can create the bases at various heights and widths to accommodate the pieces you intend to suspend. Once you’ve achieved the desired height, collar in the middle of the form. Then flare out the top creating an ample overhang. Compress and thicken the edge of the overhang where you will insert the wire supports (1). Using round-nose pliers and Kanthal wire, fashion U-shaped pins to surround the circumference of the overhang (2). Insert the pins ⅛ inch into the clay. Make S-shaped hooks to hang jewelry pieces from the embedded U-shaped pins for firing (3). Bisque fire your jewelry tree and you’re ready to go!

 Tip: Working with the wire while it’s still on the spool is much easier than trying to cut tiny segments and bending them afterward. 

3 Create S-shaped hooks and hang your jewelry for glaze firing.

Topics: Functional Pottery

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