And then there was Clay......

Meet Pete! He is my latest Personification of Nature.

Oakmen have proved popular Personifications of Nature. Pete is a gift for my friends 40th Birthday, he is modelled on her Father Pete who's a real character!
As you see him now, he's in his raw state - only just finished handbuilding him yesterday.
Now starts the scary part of slowly drying him out, if he drys too quickly he'll crack. So he's presently lying in a cool frost free place draped loosely in light plastic, I'll check him frequently, but I expect it to take a full week before I'm happy to do the 'First Firing'.

I've lost 2 Personifications previously in the Firing process - the clay thickness dictates how it shrinks and cools, causing stress to where the clay thickness varies and of course as you can see even though I try to keep the clay thickness uniformed the nature of the piece means this is hard to control.

So, fingers crossed for the next stage!
Here are a few of my previous Personifications of Nature:

Oakman 2000

  This is my first Oakman, there have been four including Pete.

  (not to mention the two that cracked during firing)

Jack Frost 2003

Jack Frost and Applejack live in my garden.



Apple Jack 2003