Today, I am thinking about the icons that I impress onto the surface of ceramic objects. I call these objects “ancient relics”, as pictured.

The stamped symbols however have not had any particular meaning. They only represent a random combination of hieroglyphic, cuneiform and other designs ( you can also see the imprint from the end of a  skeleton key, for example, on the right top part).

I am thinking now about developing an actual symbolic language using some of these carved icons (made from small porcelain stamps), as pictured:

To begin this project, I will need to carve new stamps and associate them with a coded language key. I am thinking about trying to represent a line of poetry with these new symbols.  The poety line that I will start with is the one from the epitaph of Rainer Rilke; it reads (as translated):

“Rose, oh pure contradiction, delight of being no one’s sleep under so many lids.”

First, I will need to create the porcelain icons and their coded meanings. More to follow….