Brain Column

I used to make a lot of "column sculptures," consisting of a sculpted head attached to a column made of nested clay cups.  This piece was an experiment to see if I was still capable of making column sculptures.  I intended to make a cat column and ended up with this monstrosity.

Here are some of my old columns from 2008.

Raku Brains

Yesterday I went to a raku firing at the pottery studio.  I fired two clay brains.

This is the brain glowing eerily in the gas kiln:

 Brain with White Crackle glaze:

Brain with copper glaze:

The inside of this brain came out a different metallic color:

Brains

Clay brains in various colors from a Halloween gelatin mold.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to mass produce these and sell them for $4 on Etsy.
 

Ustilagor Sculpture

11/16/11

My ceramic sculptural reinterpretation of the Ustilagor D&D Monster. One of many in a long series of D&D fan art creations.

The ustilagor is a Dungeons & Dragons monster originally published in the first edition Monster Manual II. It was a psionic fungoid creature shaped like a human brain. The original concept had neither eyes, mouth, nor mouthparts (see below).

As of 2026, I still have this piece. Contact me if you'd like to own it.







The original illustration of the ustilagor. Note lack of facial features, but what fun is a crawling brain without eyes and an orifice? It also had limbs with which to scurry across a dungeon floor, but I decided that, if I did try to provide it with limbs, they would probably be damaged during the firing process.




Later editions of D&D reimagined the ustilagor as a larval form of the intellect devourer, a dog-sized human brain on four legs which, yes, did its best to make you stupider.

Brain Mold

I've been looking for a good brain mold for years and I finally found it.




It was for sale at Target and came with a packet of brightly colored, artificially flavored gelatin mix (bones and hooves - spooky). The plastic is thinner and cheaper than I was hoping, but I think it has potential for future brain-related clay products.

Grell 3

Grell 3 stands erect and proud on its tentacles. The head is bulbous yet proportionate. The beak has a regal if not suggestive expression. This is a grell you can take home and have wild drunken sexual adventures with.

Grell 2

Grell 1 survived the kiln but was damaged when I dropped it while glazing. This is Grell 2, the Cousin Sven of my series of grells. The head is too large, the tentacles are too short, and he looks like he would whiz on the electric fence.

Chamsa 8: The Grell Chamsa

This chamsa uses the grell brain texture.




Another image of the D&D grell toy.

Grell Shroom 3

This is Shroom #12, or Grell Shroom 3. (qq.v. Grell Shroom 1 and Grell Shroom 2)




The brain texture was made using a D&D grell toy from the eighties.




The decorations on the stem were made using the beak and eyes of the grell.






Bendy Grell Toy:

Grell Shroom #2

Here is the second shroom sculpture to incorporate the grell brain mold. "What is a grell?" you may ask. Here is your answer, along with the first grell shroom.