Back on a Roll (I hope)

I've accomplished quite a lot during the night. I surprised myself, because apart from those two little dishes, I haven't produced anything in two weeks! Now hopefully I am back in full swing.

I started off by carving a couple of tiles that were hanging around. I don't think I'm likely to go into mass production of these any time soon - they must have taken me about 4 days to make! I rolled out the clay one night and laid it between two sheets of plaster board to keep it flat while it stiffened up a bit, I cut the tiles the next night and sandwiched them again, then I put the slip on the next night, and finally carved them the following night! I dunno, I think things take longer to dry here because we have such damp air. Anyway, here they are:


With the square one I am testing shrinkage. I would like to make some tiles for our bathroom but I think I will have to make a lot of test tiles before I get the right size after they have shrunk. Again, this slip looks pink but it should be brown after firing. I've stuck to the theme of Octo...whatever because Scott said he thinks they are really cool creatures! All these years of marriage and I never knew...

I listened to some music for a while before I started working on my next tree fairy vase, to try to relax me and help me to push aside some of the negative feelings that have been developing about my abilities. I tried to visualise how I was going to tackle the challenge of making a relief of a hand and the side view of a face. The idea is that she will be looking at a butterfly on her finger. I used a photo of Philippa's Rescue piece as a reference, and started with an outline.


Next, I starting building up the face...


... and the hair...


... and the hand. At this point it looks like she is wearing an oven glove!


I find that after concentrating for a while, I can't see the wood for the trees (haha, geddit?) so I decided to work on something for a while that required less concentration, and I carved the tree bark.


Then it was back to the hand for a while, until I realised it was daylight and I should probably get some sleep! I struggled with the hand for ages, and as usual, it's easier for me to see what needs changing from the photo than sitting staring at the actual vase. So hopefully I will get to work on that more soon.



So, all in all I think it was a pretty productive night. Does this mean I am over my confidence crisis? I really can't say. All I know for sure is that I am fighting it.