The Mermaid in between stages

Her body after attaching all the pieces and making the tail



The start of her head. Noses and lips are getting easier... eyes can be an issue, but... using Phillippe Faraut's technique, this is the result.

With hair and a crown added...

The back side. Instead of pulling big long snaky types of strands of hair, I used a slab this time. Cut the slab into strips, twisted and cleaned the edges a bit and let them dry a tad before adding them to the head.

Here she is with her body. Arms will be done next week.

More about the sake cups

Hehe, I love leaving you in suspense, Lisa!

Over the weekend, I glazed 75 sake cups matte black. 18 bisqued cups are left over and I've thrown 57 more. Still need to trim them today. The remaining cups will be glazed with Chun, a milky white kind of glossy glaze.

Now, I can start throwing bowls for the sale on May 1st and 2nd. Hooray? Hahaha And I need to finish up a mermaid sculpture.

Ok, how's that Lisa? Does it stop the suspense? hehe

Oh, and I still have to take and post photos of the last wood soda fire results. So little time these days!

More sake cups

Ok, Lisa, this post is just for you!

My cousins finally decided on what color they wanted the sake cups to be. Today... So, I wasn't trying to keep you in suspense at all. It wasn't my fault!!!

Now, I know that I threw at least 75 cups. 4 were glazed and sent to my cousin as test samples. However, when I counted the number of bisqued cups I had in my possession and added those 4 already mentioned, I came up with 68 cups. Some how 7 cups have disappeared. Not sure how.

I've already thrown and trimmed 19 more and did 12 more tonight (one might be disqualified because it was quite wobbly). My back started to ache and along with some pretty bad forearm pain, I decided to throw a bottle with the rest of the clay on my wheel and just leave it at 12 cups and one bottle tonight.

More trimming tomorrow and perhaps more throwing. Depends on this ole body o' mine.

The beginnings of the Mermaid

There you go. The beginnings of the mermaid sculpture. That's her tail on the right. I really need to round it out more to give her a more organic feel... The other parts will be her body. Oh, and the flipper part of her tail hasn't been added yet.

In other news, I'm really falling behind in the sake cup production. I have 75 made. 4 were glazed as samples to send to my cousin so he and his bride could decide on colors. Now, I have to make about 75 more (the total is down from 200 to 140. BUT, it's good to make extras.)

So, I hope to do that this weekend.

The beginnings of a new sculpture

I ride Caltrain to work 4 days a week. This leaves me a lot of 'dreaming' time. Usually, I take a nap. However, today, a vision of a mermaid came to mind. I think I'm going to have to try to sculpt it... This one will be wider than tall, but still I want her to be on a rather large scale.

I've also got some sketches for another sculpture. I doubt I will throw the body as I have been doing. This one might be a viney blobby type of sculpture. Will see how they come about.

75 cups and counting

75 sake cups are thrown and trimmed. 63 are drying. 12 are bisqued. 2 have been glazed and should be out of the kiln. One was glazed black. One was glazed white. We shall see which color the bride and groom to be choose for their wedding favor.

More Elf Sculpture photos

She's done and drying now. Can't see her ears as much, but I'm pretty happy with her. So busty!