The Princess of the Galapagos - Figure Sculpture

I have been taking my sweet time in finishing this piece. I am casually calling her the "Iguana". The torso for this piece was made in class last term, but that wasn't enough, I had to get in there and do crazy things to her! The question of "what head should I use" seemed a simple one to answer, but as I rifled through my numerous animal books, it was anything but. I began sculpting a deer but didn't feel it, and then shifted to a rabbit, but that idea did not get very far either. Out of the corner of my eye a strange and intriguing face stared up at me. I have a book on the animals of the Galapagos Islands and on the cover sits a pair of marine iguanas. The scales, the spikes, even the curve of their lizard lips seemed to call out to me. Marine iguana then, done.

This piece is in-progress but I thought you might enjoy being kept up-to-date on her progress. I know I do! *grin*

Stay-tuned for more nuggets of goodness!

Pretty Bird - Update

Pretty Bird went into the heat a couple of weeks ago and I nearly turned blue from holding my breath. I handed her over to my ceramics teacher on a Friday morning and watched with a mother's eye over his shoulder as he loaded her into her own tiny kiln, closed the lid, and punched in her sentence. All I could do was wait. Monday morning I hurried over to the ceramics lab and made my way to the kiln room at the back. The little kiln stood with it's lid up. I walked up to it stretching my neck out like a stork bracing myself for a pile of birdy pieces. But much to my surprise Pretty Bird had survived! I reached into the kiln and pulled her free. The bisque-firing was a success! *exhale breath*

A week later my amazing figure teacher, Ellen Tykeson, made a special visit on Friday morning to demonstrate a unique finishing technique involving specific forms of wax to whomever wanted to learn. Two of us showed up. Only two. And here are the results: