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Sue explains these beads are pit-fired. First she put them in a kiln and baked them. Then she built a fire, put the clay work into it, buried it in dung, and let it the fire rage. It's a technique used by indigenous Americans to create claywork with unpredictable colors and patterns. Transformative, she says.

She began making beads in 1975 and continued through the 90s. 

This one is lacking scale, but when I asked her to use her hands for this, she said, "No, I want to leave this one asbstract, just the shapes for themselves."