in progress

Sea urchin bowl

Made with Laguna LC5 clay / Cone 5

Art imitates life.

the idea

There are tons of sea urchins whenever I go diving in Southern California. Sometimes I go to a seafood market on the pier that sells fresh uni. They crack open the sea urchin and serve it to you in the actual sea urchin shell... which is kind of crazy if you think about it. But anyways, that was my inspiration for making this sea urchin bowl.

Speargun pointed down a channel in a Southern California kelp forest — Kelp forests of Southern California.

Reef floor carpeted in purple sea urchins, with an orange garibaldi passing over it — Kelp forests of Southern California.

the process

For the clay body, I used Laguna LC5 which is a dark brown clay that fires black, which would be perfect for imitating a sea urchin. I rolled out spikes by hand, taking small lumps of clay and rolling them into cones. I then attached these to a half sphere bowl using slip (mixture of clay, water, and white vinegar).

Hand rolling a clay spike beside a row of finished spikes and the half sphere bowl — Rolling clay spikes.

Scoring a spike before attaching it to the bowl, with a bowl of slip alongside — Rolling clay spikes.

the result

I ended up making two sizes, large and small. On a whim, I took my sea urchin bowl to a sushi restaurant and asked the chef if I could have a mini chirashi bowl (see photos). The spikes are a bit delicate but I was very happy with how it came out.

The finished bowl on a restaurant table, chopsticks reaching past it — Sea urchin bowl at sushi restaurant.

The bowl holding a chirashi of rice, uni, sashimi, and greens — Sea urchin bowl at sushi restaurant.