I am very pleased with my hue puruhau. The mould worked and i'm thinking of creating a plaster cast for future use. The wok served as good support while it was drying and I need to be careful not to let it dry out too quickly.
None of our kuia had moko kauae (that we know of - I've asked my kaumatua about it) but our many of our kaumatua had tā moko. While doing some rangahau around whakapapa, I was intrigued by the stories of Taurau Kukupa who was Tirarau's younger brother. I've used his tā moko to inspire the moko kauae I designed for my hue puruhau. I love the contrast of the feminine form (hue) and the sound the hue puruhau makes (
Kakapo boom sound). I wanted to put a moko kauae design to make the connection of where to place your own lips to make the sound.
It was tricky carving the design into the clay because I wasn't sure how to use the chisels. I'm glad the clay was leather hard because it was nice to carve. I'm thinking of bisque firing the hue and then pit firing it. I'll use red iron oxide to make the moko kauae stand out. Plait the muka and use kukupa feathers to decorate around the neck of the hue.
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