Spirit Vessel inspired by the Ga’anda peoples art

Made by Petra Harris

I saw a photo of a terracotta “spirit vessel” made by the Ga’anda people in Africa and fell in love with it. I wanted to make something like that, but I do not have the budget for terracotta clay crafting. So I viewed a lot of videos about paper clay and paper mache. I found Jonni Good’s ones to be the most helpful. Thank you so much for the tutorials and recipes, Jonni !

So here is my very first paper clay/paper mache piece. I used the clay only for the under structures of the head and the legs. The inside structure of the torso is just a ball of paper. I glued everything together and then applied the paper mache (cooked flour glue). It still needs a finishing varnish or wood glue layer to protect it from moisture once it is completely dry in I guess 2 weeks from now.

Size : 22 cm tall, 13 cm in diameter
Weight : 650 g

Link to the original terracotta vessel which inspired me.

Paper mache Spirit Vessel

Paper mache Spirit Vessel

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