Half-Circle Animals #2 – White Clay

I just showed you some of these animals a couple of days ago:

Clay terracotta half circle animals group #2 7-192

After  this group, I made a much bigger animal in white low-fire clay. Actually, I made two. The first one taught me something – a larger animal’s body needed some help during the creation process in order to maintain its shape.

Let me explain a little. I cut the circle with an 8″ diameter, cut it in half, and let it set up some so that it was stiff enough to stand up but not too dry to meld the pieces together.

Then I cut a strip for the back. Since the animal was larger, this strip needed to be wider, so that the animal would not be too tall and narrow and tipsy. In my first try, the wider clay strip sagged in the middle and deformed the circular shape. I went so far as to bisque fire the creature, but I could not get happy with the shape. This animal had to go into the trash.

Note: I kept its head, glazed it, and left it as an art-drop off in the park. Never waste anything, I say…

Clay Figurine Triangle Head4

I realized I needed a support for the back piece in order to make the sides and the back work together. I got a styrofoam circle and cut it in half (poorly, but it all worked out with some adjustment…)

Clay large half circle animal WIP 7-19 form view1

I was able to lay the clay strip over the form and have it stiffen into a shape that would fit with the two half-circles so that I could put them all together with losing the shape I wanted.

Fantastic! Here is the animal after the bisque (first) firing:

I then colored the animal with Velvet underglazes, as you have seen with tiles and other figurines:


I’ve got plenty more photos. Let’s take a look:

 

And some more:

 

and a close-up of a patterned area:

Clay Figurine Large half-circle creature 8-19 #4 top5

and here the animal says thank you for your attention to me!

Clay Figurine Large half-circle creature 8-19 #4 front6

This animal was made in August 2019,low-fire white clay, Velvet underglazes, fired at cone 06.

9 thoughts on “Half-Circle Animals #2 – White Clay”

    1. Claudia McGill Post author

      Thank you. I could do patterns like this all day. I like the effect of the colors and the white, also. Plus the color of the clay really makes the colors glow and does not affect their brightness the way terracotta clay does.

    1. Claudia McGill Post author

      Thank you. I like the different look of the half-circle, and yet it is still a box form, something I find easy to construct since I am used to doing them. I have some other ideas and hope to try them this winter.

    1. Claudia McGill Post author

      Thank you. I like explaining the processes I go through with all my work (as I know you like to do too, and I really enjoy it). I’ve always liked knowing how things are made or how they come about (I worked for many years for a bank as a commercial lender in which job I toured all kinds of business establishments and factories, perfect job for my curious soul) and I like explaining them, too, especially if it might encourage someone to try it out themselves.

Comments are closed.