Everytime I share a work in progress video a lot of questions arise about how I create my sculpture, why do I do this or that, what clay I use, etc…
I’ve chosen the 3 most common questions and I will write their answer, perhaps your next question get answered in this post 🙂
- Where did I learn my craft?
I have started doing dog figurines a little over 5 years ago. I am mostly self taught and I have involved myself in specific learning processes as I needed them.
My main knowledge comes from my understanding of how a dog is built, having my experience of +15 years of being involved with dogs (showing, breeding, grooming, etc). Now when it comes about the practical scene of creating Art, well….
– I have attended one to one classes whenever I couldn’t figure something out by myself, in order to learn about specific materials or precesses.
– I have taken part of different sculptures workshops in order to improve my sculpture skills.
– I have taken an apprentiece position for few weeks in a casting studio in
– I have taken an appretice position in a ceramic workshop in for over 2 years.
Doing details on that cast.
- My instruction took place in 3 different countries: Argentina, Denmark and UK.What material I use (now) and how is the process?
My current work gives a finished product in Ceramic. I use stoneware clay and for coloring I apply different techniques, my latest swing is a self developed slip that emphasises the clay texture.
Stoneware means that the clay needs to be fired at high temperature to become at it’s stringest point (not so technical but clear vocabulary for the reader). - Creating a ceramic piece would normally goes like this
Step 1 – create the sculpture – time: between 1 to 3 weeks depeding on the project.
Step 2 – Let sculpture dry out – time between 2 to 4 weeks.
Step 3 – sometimes the coloring process will start while the clay is drying
Step 4 – Fire the sculpture at ‘low’ temperature, 980 Celsius.
Step 5 – Coloring process. It can be glaze or slip.
Step 6 – The sculpture will go into the kiln again and will fire at 1280 Celsius. - In some cases two more steps will be taken.
Step 7 – Coloring process may continue by adding more slips to reinforce tones
Steo 8 – A new high temperature fire will take place. - My favorite clay is one with %45 of coarse grog, but in ocassions I need fine details and grog is a complication so I would chose a plastic, quite fat clay. I have some additional clays I would use in special cases, it all depends on the project!
Schnauzer clay sculpture
- Why do I hollow my pieces?
This question goes on very often, specially when I share a photo or videos that seems to be destroying my work. Well, the thing is that hollowing the pieces will reduce the chance of having air bubbles that can be created in large volumes. Such air bubbles can create cracks or even explotions of the pieces while their are firing due to pressure while the temperature rises.
The clay I use allows to have larger volumes of clay without much of that fear but I still hollow if the diameter is wider than 5 cm. It will also create a lighter piece which will dry faster and also it won’t weight that much when I have to ship it by post 😉
Do you have more questions about my work?? Get in touch and ask! I may answer it in a future post as it may be the question of many others!
Have you been hesistating whether you should or should not commission a special piece of your very own dog?? Many times the budget seems to be an issue, but hey! Don’t be at all discouraged! The entire process will take about 2 months to complete, and we can discuss small payments which may help your dream of having your dog turned into a piece of art be possible! You can find out how to order here or just write an email to discuss it with me applerainart@gmail.com
See you around!
Barbara
