Why no two terracotta sets are identical
Every so often a customer writes to ask whether the set they received is the same as the one in the photograph. It is, and it is not, and the difference is worth explaining properly rather than hiding behind the word handmade.
There are no moulds
The clay comes from the Cauvery basin. It is wedged by hand to work the air out, then rolled bead by bead between the palms. Nothing is pressed into a form, which means no two beads on a single strand are precisely the same size, let alone across two different sets made a month apart.
This is not sloppiness. A strand of perfectly uniform beads reads as machine-made from across a room, and the small irregularity is what tells the eye something was shaped by a person. On a long strand it is the difference between jewellery and a bought object.
The kiln changes colour
Pigment is mixed into the clay before firing, not painted on afterwards, which is why the colour holds at every bead edge instead of thinning where a brush would have lifted. But firing is not neutral. Eight hours at high heat moves pigment, and it moves some colours more than others.
Red and pink are stable. Green needs a longer, steadier fire to hold its tone. Blue shifts noticeably. Teal shifts most of all — the pigment travels under heat, and two batches from the same mix can come out visibly different. That is why teal and blue sets are made in smaller numbers, and why we say: if the exact shade matters to you, order from the batch you can see rather than waiting for a restock.
The painting is done one piece at a time
Gold is built in successive coats over the fired clay, then knocked back deliberately so it reads as old metal rather than fresh paint. How far it is knocked back is a judgement made by hand, in the light of that afternoon, by the person holding the brush. Our antique gold sets are the clearest example.
Kemp stones are set individually. On a dense bridal pendant like Lakshmi that is the slowest stage of the whole process, slower than the firing. Nobody sets forty stones in exactly the same positions twice.
What that means for you
The set you receive will match its photograph in colour, in shape and in scale. It will not match it bead for bead, and if you compared two sets of the same design side by side you would find small differences in tone, in bead size and in where the gold sits heaviest.
What is not variation: a chip, a crack, a broken hook, a colour that is clearly wrong. Those are faults, and we replace them. Send a photo within 48 hours of delivery and it is our cost, always. Breakage in transit is never yours to absorb.
Six days, in order
- Day 1 — clay wedged, beads and pendant rolled and shaped by hand
- Days 2 and 3 — dried in shade first, then in full sun, so drying is even and nothing cracks in the kiln
- Day 4 — fired eight hours at high heat, which is what makes terracotta hard and permanent
- Days 5 and 6 — gold applied in layers, kemp stones set one at a time, sealed matte, checked and packed
Six days rather than six minutes. That is the whole argument, and the variation is the evidence. If you want a colour mixed specially, that is possible too.