*Each rattle design is gift boxed and all comes with a different story card to help encourage good thoughts. Ornaments are also gift boxed, and come with a card explaining the Raku process and a story about the origin of Christmas ornaments.
InnerSpirit Rattles symbolize our multicultural world. Discovered in archaeological digs around the world, rattles are rich with culture and stories. Made by resourceful peoples, from inventive materials, these old-world rhythm makers represent humanity's shared heritage and are a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.
Native Americans used rattles to ensure blessings upon their crops. Use your rattle to help rattle some rain into your life, some rain out of your life, to rattle your worries away, or (if you insist) just to keep your papers from blowing astray.
Shake to the rhythm of your favorite music, or the beat of your own drum.
J.Davis Studio Raku pottery begins just like your everyday pottery - wet clay is molded by hand, dried slowly, fired, cooled slowly, then glazed, and finally fired a second time. For normal pottery, to prevent breakage and glaze defects, it is critical a kiln cool slowly after firing. But a Raku firing is not normal. Imperfection is the treasure! In the second firing, as soon as the piece reaches a certain temperature, and the silical glaze begins to melt flow, long metal tongs are used to pull the red-hot pottery from the kiln to initiate an extreme thermic reaction. Then to push the alternative technique even further, in addition to thermal shock, a chemical reaction is introduced by placing the piece inside a lidded container filled with combustibles. The flammables immediately burst into flames and the lid is shut quickly to cut off the air supply. Inside the closed metal can, the frenzied flames lick and flail wildly in search of air. In a desperate quest to stay alive, the fire encircles and swaths each piece drawing air from the glaze. As the fire burns out, fluid smoke and lack of oxygen leave behind an unpredictable surface with delicate, colorful, and one-of-a kind iridescent patterns.
J.Davis Studio is a small ceramics studio in Alpine, TX. Located in the vast and peaceful Chihuahuan Desert, close to Big Bend National Park, the area is isolated and rugged. There is arguably a unique energy springing from this uncluttered and far flung part of the world. The desolate mountainous landscape has a curious way of reinforcing faith, dredging up an unknown inner strength, and sparking a deep appreciation for even the smallest things in life. This feeling is a gift that maybe (just maybe) captured inside the hard shell of each handmade innerSpirit Rattle. Perhaps it's an aura that seeps in, or a sticky essence picked up while being made one-by-one in a land once roamed by Native Americans and African American Buffalo Soldiers.
