We Have a WINNER!!

Yay! Congratulations to Leanne for being the first to guess correctly that the piece I am currently working on is a swan! Here is the progress so far...


I still have to make the wings, which I am really not confident about, but then I wasn't confident about the neck or the head either! I just have to keep telling myself "You can do it Linda!"

We are lucky enough to have swans in our town and I went to see them yesterday to take a few photo's for you.


The light was fading, but it was quiet and peaceful and I enjoyed spending those few moments watching these beautiful birds preening. I really should come here more often.

Synchronised preening!

Swans feature quite heavily in our town actually. Our shopping centre is called The Swansgate Centre, and many years ago there used to be a fountain in the centre of it with beautiful huge swan sculptures. I have no idea why they decided to remove it. We also have a place called Swanspool Gardens with a tree carved into the shape of a swan.


And now, on with the prize!

I have found it quite difficult to decide what would be an appropriate prize for this competition, especially as I am still early on in my journey and don't have many pieces to choose from! (Plus the fact that I am in the UK so I have to think about postage!) So I will allow Leanne to choose her prize from the following options:




My Johnny Depp portrait, measuring approximately 4.5 x 5 inches, framed once I can get the right size mount!






My castle, remembering that it needs a candle taller than a tea light!





Or my flower mug, which actually isn't so bad, despite the fact that it's not brown!

Thank you to everyone for taking part! And lastly I would just like to say a special thank you to Leanne, because until I saw her blog the thought had never even crossed my mind that coil building could be used to create sculptures. In fact, I didn't even realise that it was a genuine technique - I just thought that coiling was what kids did in school!

Can You Tell What It Is Yet? - Part Five!

Wow, I can't believe there were no guesses for yesterday's post! I felt sure that the last photo would give it away - but then I suppose it seems obvious to me because I know what it is!

It's been a few day's now since I last worked on the piece - I have been so tired! So here are the last of the photo's of the progress so far. Hopefully I will get to work on it more later today before it dries out too much.

Once I started working from a photo I realised that the pointed end was the wrong shape, so I cut a piece out so that I could change it.


Here I have started changing the shape of the pointed end, and you also get to see the rounded end from a different angle than yesterday!


The pointed end has been closed up again, and the rounded end has been extended. Only two more things to add to this piece! Come on people! You must know what it is now!

Can You Tell What It Is Yet? - Part Four

There have been some really good guesses so far, but sadly none have been right! Thank you to everyone that has been joining in! I feel sure that today's photo's will completely give it away!

I found this part really tricky. It's at this point that I decided that working from a photo might be a good idea! I pulled off some of the polystyrene to get it out of the way, but some of it is starting to come off in my hands when I try to turn it! This piece is getting heavy!


I feel sure that once you see the next photo you will know instantly what this is going to be! (Although I took the photo at a different angle to try to disguise it!)



I've been shopping around for just the right sized frame for the prize! Unfortunately, I've had no luck yet, but I will keep trying!

Remember - one guess each for this post! If we have a winning answer, it will be revealed tomorrow!

Can You Tell What It Is Yet? - Part Three

This is where the piece starts looking... interesting. Is the curiosity and anticipation mounting?

In this photo I had to wait for one end to firm up a bit, so I started working on the other end...


... then I decided it was all wrong and took it off again...


... and then I had to re-build that section again! I must have done this at least three times! In the mean time, I continued closing up the top.



Any ideas yet? At this point I didn't have a clue either! But I feel sure that the next couple of photo's will be a complete give away!

Can You Tell What It Is Yet? - Part Two

No correct guesses so far, so on with the competition. Remember, only one guess each for this post, and the first one to guess correctly is the winner!

Don't let these walls for support fool you! (A tip I learnt from Leanne)


I have this amazing tool for making holes in clay - it's called a drinking straw! You just poke it in the clay and when you pull it out it leaves a hole! I'm the queen of improvisation!


That black thing that it's sitting on is my "whirler" - or in layman's terms, "the polystyrene plate that my frozen pizza came on"!



More clues tomorrow!

A Rolf Harris Moment - Can You Tell What It Is Yet?

Now that (some of) the festivities are over I thought maybe you could all do with a pick-me-up to help you get over those post-Christmas-blues. I know, I'm so thoughtful :) So, it's competition time!

I've been working on one of my planned projects this week. It was coming along so quickly at first that I actually thought I might finish it in one "session". Alas, after five hours it was still not finished! Can you tell what it is yet?



Ok, probably not, but I wanted to give everyone time to join in, so for the benefit of those who don't check in as regularly as others, the progress will be revealed slowly! Clue two is coming up tomorrow! So check back if you want to be in with a chance to win!

Umm... yeah, I'd just like to point out that what you see above is not five hours worth!

I have photographed the piece at various stages and I thought it would be fun to see who can work out what it is first! Answers in the comments section please! And only one guess each for this post! If you change your mind you'll have to wait until my next update!

(Any suggestions for a prize?)

Experimenting

Today/yesterday (I don't know, I'm confused - I woke up before 3am so it feels like the same day!) Anyway, I bought some clay! Yay!

I was looking for a white clay and my (ex) tutor suggested that white St. Thomas was a good choice as a lot of potters use that. But when I got to the suppliers I looked at the fired colour in the catalogue and it didn't look white at all! So I went for a different one which I think is lightly grogged and supposed to be good for hand building - which is what I want.

I also bought another clay which they call crank. It's very coarse and heavily grogged, and is supposed to be very easy to work with and good for hand building. I had seen a piece made with this clay at class and the results were beautiful. It looked like it had been made with something like cork or woodchip. I realised today though that crank comes in different colours, so I hope I bought the right one. Edit: apparently it is known in some places as chamotte.

I'm also experimenting with making my own slip for slip trailing. This is something I've wanted to try for a little while, and right now seemed ideal since I want to coil build a little dish to sit under my plant pot and a) I couldn't get the lino print to work well on the coil built piece so I will slip trail the design instead, and b) my old clay is now too firm for me to coil build effectively so I will allow the remaining slip to dry a little before I wedge it and re-use. I remember Cynthia saying that plaster board is ideal for helping sloppy clay firm up because it soaks up the moisture, so I went to Jewson's today and they gave me a scrap piece that was no use to them.

So, with so many new things to try I am going to try to stay away from the computer this week! Time just seems to fly by so quickly when I am sitting at this thing, and by the end of the week I would like to have finished at least my little dish for the plant pot, and one other project that I have in mind.

So if I don't speak to you before hand, I hope you all have a lovely time with your families over the holiday period. :)


More information on crank (you'll need to scroll down the page, I can't link to the item directly)