Red Slipper Orchid Plate (Paphiopedilum), Porcelain, cone 10. 9″x9″x1″

When botanists and scientists hear the word “plate”, it usually isn’t interpreted literally as something you can eat your lunch off of. There was a time when I thought I had a future as a real botanical illustrator, right around the time when I just discovered ceramics in college. I was working at a herbarium pressing plants and gluing them to archival paper, and my boss took an interest in my ability to draw. She even had me to go the university greenhouse to draw cycads for a day. Although my drawings aren’t quite refined enough for scientific recording, I still pursue my interest in plants with my ceramic work.

This ginkgo leaf plate broke in half when I turned it over to sign the bottom before firing it, but I put it in the kiln anyway because I wanted to see how the decoration would look glaze fired.

Find my ceramic work for sale on Etsy at https://www.etsy.com/shop/KiraCallCeramics