Tree of Life Candlestick Dee Barnes

Appears in the Mar/Apr 2024 issue of Pottery Making Illustrated.

I live in the small town of Grantham in Lincolnshire, England. We moved here just over two years ago because we fell in love with the house. It is a Georgian-period property and the style of the house, with its tall ceilings, wooden shutters, quirky nooks, and crannies, has a huge influence on the style of my work. I converted half of our garage, located at the back of the garden, into my pottery studio a couple of months after we moved in. I spend most days there when not teaching ceramics at both Leicester and Loughborough universities. 

Background Inspiration 

I grew up in London—both my parents went to art college and there were always pots and paintings dotted around our family home. I have spent a lifetime wandering through the galleries at The British Museum and The National Gallery, and always gravitate to galleries and museums wherever I am in the world. My husband runs an arts center and is a brilliant oil painter, so my life is saturated by art in all its various forms. 

I am a handbuilder. My favorite technique is coiling with clay, but I often incorporate slab building, and a little pinching when required. I work with red earthenware clay or terra cotta, which has a fine grog in the body that I bisque fire to cone 03 on a slow ramp and glaze fire to cone 05, also on slow. Red earthenware is the clay I use to teach with, making it affordable and endlessly adaptable for any handbuilt work. I have used all sorts of other clays but always gravitate back to red clay. 

I brush all my work with a white decorating slip and leave the pieces to dry before starting the decorating process. I work very intuitively and tend to let my ideas seep through my subconscious and see what shapes appear when I start to build. 

My own work is influenced by Folk Art. The Tree of Life candlesticks I have made over the past few years were inspired by original designs and techniques produced in Mexico, which date back as far as 300 BCE, and depicted biblical scenes. Over time they have been adapted and are now made for various ceremonial festivals and are often commissioned to celebrate the birth, marriage, and death of loved ones with symbols and figures, that represent the person they are being made for. 

Building the Trunk 

Begin by rolling out a ½-inch (13-mm) thick slab of clay. Compress the clay with a firm rubber kidney rib. Place the wooden hump mold onto the clay and cut around it (1). Place the flat circle of clay onto the hump mold, then cut a hole in the center of the clay. The size of the hole depends on how big you want the stem of your tree to be, I generally cut one to be about 1½ inches (3.8 cm) across. Score the edge of the hole and brush some slurry (wet, sloppy clay or water) onto the scored area, and then place your first coil onto the base (2). My coils are typically about ½ inch (13 mm) thick. 

Attach the first coil around the central hole and join it well on the interior (3). I use a serrated, curved wooden tool for this job, using the flat side of the tool to smooth out the marks. On the exterior, use your fingertip to pull down the coils onto the one below, then score with the serrated kidney rib (4), and repeat the process. Keep using the wooden tool, your finger, and the serrated kidney rib until you reach a height you like (this one is about 10 inches (25.4 cm) tall). I start to taper my coils slightly as I go up to give the stem/trunk shape. When you have reached the desired height of your trunk, cut the top flat with a metal knife and set the whole thing aside. 

Developing the Branches 

Next, roll out coils to create the branches, stick to roughly ½ inch (13 mm), but they don’t have to be exact. Cut two lengths and lay them flat on the table, curve them round and see if you think they’re going to be big/small enough, then hold them to the trunk to make sure they look proportional (5). Then, roll out two more and lay them on the table so you can see how you want to assemble them onto the trunk. Continue to roll out the coils and cut each set of two to the same size (6). I like to make the ones toward the bottom of the trunk larger and then taper them as I move upward so the whole tree looks balanced.

Once the coils are ready, place a flat-edged tool across the top of the trunk, then score down both sides of the trunk with the serrated kidney rib (7). This is important as you want the branches to sit directly across from each other in the middle of the trunk, otherwise the whole thing will look off-center. Score and slip the ends of the branches and place them in line onto the trunk while applying a bit of pressure so they stay in place. Roll several tiny coils and wrap one around each trunk and branch joint (8). With a wooden tool, split the tiny coils in half, drag one half onto the trunk and the other half onto the branch, then blend the clay in so you can’t see any joins or evidence of the tiny coils. 

Finally, score the top of the trunk in preparation for adding the candle cups. 

Creating the Candle Cups 

Roll out three small, solid balls of clay to make the candle cups. You can make these any size you want as long as they are in proportion with the branches and can hold a candle. Pinch out the three balls into half-cup shapes (9). Cut the bottoms of each cup flat, and score the cut areas with the serrated kidney rib. Coat a layer of slurry onto the base of each cup. Place the first cup onto the top of the trunk and join it by pulling the clay from the trunk up and onto the cup with a wooden tool (10). Next, place the other two cups onto the top two branches, and take a step back from the table to make sure you are happy with the placement. You don’t want the cups too close to the trunk because the lit candles will make the area too hot. Take a little bit of clay and roll it into a small pea-sized ball and squash one side of the ball so it forms a wedge shape. Pop a bit of slurry or water onto it and place it under the cup, so the cup sits flat on the branch (11). Blend in the pea-sized ball so it can’t be seen. 

Adding Decoration 

Now you can begin to think about decoration. Of course, this will depend on who you are making the piece for. You can make it as ornate or simple as you like. I like to add a simple leaf theme. Roll out a thin slab of clay, use metal cutters or a knife to create desired shapes, and then incise the surface using a wooden tool (12). The shapes you can add are limitless. Make sure you attach each piece by scoring and adding slurry or water. 

Once everything is assembled, wipe down the whole surface with a small, damp sponge to tidy up the surface. Then, add a layer of white slip (13). Make sure you get into all the nooks and crannies and check under the branches, as these areas are easy to miss. Once the white slip is dry, add colored slips for additional surface decoration (14). 

Dee Barnes is a ceramic artist based in Grantham, Lincolnshire, UK, and has been working with clay for over 40 years. She works in small batches producing one-off pieces inspired by Staffordshire figurines, Folk Art, and historical portraiture. Barnes teaches ceramics to adults at Leicester and Loughborough universities and sells her work at prestigious fairs throughout the UK. To see more, visit www.deebarnesdesigns.com or go to Instagram @deebarnesdesigns.