Tag Archives: figurine

Wise Little Owl

Remember this group?

Some went to Pittsburgh, one stayed in Wyncote, and the other one…

…went to Washington DC to live with my little granddaughter. Yes!

I noticed this stick because of the little protrusion it had in the face area. I knew right away it had to be an owl.

Maybe it’s kind of a human-looking owl. Well, so what? It knows who it is.

I am an alumna of Bryn Mawr College and our mascot was the owl. I always liked that, because of its associations with wisdom and learning. You may also remember that Athena, who in Greek mythology is the goddess of wisdom, is accompanied or represented by an owl; she is also a mascot or symbol of sorts for the school.

So I feel this owl represents my hopes that my granddaughter will love learning and gain wisdom from her life experiences.

Plus I also think it’s a good size just for her to play with! She can take it outside and it can go anywhere and have a good time. Maybe I can make some more creatures for her as time goes on.

Tall Glazed Figurine

Here is a tall woman figurine that I made in my studio clay class in February 2020. You’ve seen figures like this one before – tall women. But they have been decorated in colorful patterns using underglazes.

As I have said before, the studio has different materials and I use a different clay there as well. There is a need for uniformity in firing temps and in glazes because dozens of students are having their work fired, and so things need to be organized. That’s worked out nicely for me in forcing me to try some new things.

I created this lady, about 14″ tall, in my usual way via a cylinder shape, using Standard clay #112 fired at Cone 6.

She was bisqued and I put an iron oxide wash on her head and arms. I waxed these areas to form a resist and then I dip-glazed her, overlapping some colors. I also poured glaze over her middle section (there are only so many times you can dip an object in glaze before it becomes too thick to fire correctly and I wanted more than a couple of colors on her).

The natural color of the clay shows through in her bottom section. I am not sure exactly why, I think I did not stir whatever glaze I used in that section enough to mix thing well. Sometimes things happen and we do not understand…but I like how it turned out, anyway.

Tower of Heads

I made this sculpture in August, 2019. It’s done in low-fire white clay fired at cone 06 and colored with Velvet underglazes and is about 14″ tall.

Here it is after the bisque firing.

And here it is, finished. Let’s twirl it.

: front…

: side…

: back…

: side…

And here are the four sides lined up together.

front…

side…

back…

side…

And some detail views.

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.

Art Show Wrap-Up, Pennridge Gallery of the Arts

Every so often I think you might like to see some scenes of the art fairs in which I participate. This previous Sunday, September 15, we were at an event in Sellersville, PA, about 40 minutes from our house.

It’s a street fair that lines Main Street in this town, and it’s very festive and full of lots of things to see and do. I want to mention how well-organized it is, too – from a vendor’s standpoint, it’s an extremely easy show to do. I especially appreciate the high school students who volunteer (and there are a lot of them), helping with unloading the car and other tasks. It’s really nice.

Anyway, the day was a perfect early fall day.

Sellersville 9-15-19 #56

We got things set up and took it from there.

Guess what. My tall lady figurine, one that you might remember from a recent post, won 3rd prize in my category.

Sellersville 9-15-19 #78

I think she and I were both very happy. (Thanks to my friend John G for these following photos.)

Lots of friends stopped by the booth during the day – thank you to John G, Bill F, Chris and Mark, and Missy M.

What else happened? Well, all day we kept hearing a bell-ringing sound, the kind you associate with the fair activity where you hit the platform and spring a weight up to ring a bell. Yes, we heard many rings and lots of cheering.

Late in in the day I went down the row to see what was going on. Sure enough, just as we thought, but – the set-up was sized for six-year-olds. The fire department sponsored the activity and the fireman on duty said there was no age limit to participants. I stepped right up to the challenge, hoping not to embarrass myself since two quite young boys in line in front of me handily rang the bell multiple times

Luckily I could handle the job. As my reward, like all the kids, I got to try on the fireman’s helmet. My husband took this picture.

Claudia fire woman Sellersville 9-15-191

All right, I think this day was a success all around! And a lot of fun.

Tall Ladies Part 4 – The Group

In June 2019 I made three tall women figurines. I love how they turned out, and I loved making them. It is important to me to create such figures. I try to convey strength, humor, and resilience in each one.

I decided to give each one an individual post and then I’ll show them to you as a group.

The figurines are about 15″ tall, made of lowfire white clay or terracotta clay fired at cone 06, colored with Velvet underglazes.

When I was photographing the figurines, I took individual and group shots. In doing the group photos, I was taken by the strangest feeling that the figurines were enjoying themselves and displaying their personalities. I’m not talking about a little fiction I’m making up about fired clay statues to give them a story; I mean I really did feel it. I’m hoping it means that when they go to whatever place on this earth they are meant to be, standing on a shelf or a table or ledge, they will bring along a good feeling with them to the people they are associated with.

Here are the photos I took of the three figurines as a group.

Tall Ladies Part 3

In June 2019 I made three tall women figurines. I love how they turned out, and I loved making them. It is important to me to create such figures. I try to convey strength, humor, and resilience in each one.

I decided to give each one an individual post and then I’ll show them to you as a group.

The figurine is about 15″ tall, made of lowfire white clay fired at cone 06, colored with Velvet underglazes.

Tall Ladies Part 2

In June 2019 I made three tall women figurines. I love how they turned out, and I loved making them. It is important to me to create such figures. I try to convey strength, humor, and resilience in each one.

I decided to give each one an individual post and then I’ll show them to you as a group.

The figurine is about 15″ tall, made of terracotta clay fired at cone 06, colored with Velvet underglazes.

Tall Ladies Part 1

In June 2019 I made three tall women figurines. I love how they turned out, and I loved making them. It is important to me to create such figures. I try to convey strength, humor, and resilience in each one.

I decided to give each one an individual post and then I’ll show them to you as a group.

The figurine is about 15″ tall, made of low-fire white clay fired at cone 06, colored with Velvet underglazes.