Frog Prince update

No, the life size Frog hasn't turned into a Prince even though he has been kissed quite a few times. But he is now finished and being assessed at uni at this moment along with all my other work. Here he is clutching his paper crowns looking a bit forlorn...

I thought you might be interested to see some more work in progress pictures showing the various stages in his creation.

I've already shown you the making of the head mould. It took 33ltrs of porcelain slip to cast it! I'm not actually communing with it here but checking that the last of the slip has drained out. 

 

The leg moulds turned out to be more tricky to use than the head mould. I would put the pouring hole in the side if I ever made such a thing again. Here they are drying in the sun with the arms and hands.

At least they didn't slump in the kiln which was my main worry. Paul, the ceramics technician at UWE, fired the parts very slowly just to be sure. They seemed to shrink even more than usual though.

 

The armature for his body is made of wood and a cut up mannequin torso. It's very sturdy!

 

 

He is padded with foam (and a lot of duct tape) to make him look rather portly and slumped.

 

Fitting his fabric covering was really difficult because the cotton I used was rather thick making the hand sewn parts very hard work.

 

 

Now he's patiently waiting for the right girl to come along!

 

 

 

My First Attempts at Slip Casting

Soon after Christmas (when my dissertation was safely handed in) I bought a second hand plaster slip mould of a pigeon for £4. I took it in to the university ceramics technican and he gave me a crash course in slip casting (although he did wonder whether it was rather a large mould to start with considering my zero knowledge on the subject). It is quite large (that's a 12 inch ruler in the picture) and very heavy (special thanks to my sister in law, Helen, for collecting it from the seller for me) .

When my first attempt came out of the kiln OK I coloured her dove grey and gave her human eyes.

I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to try and do with the pigeon after reading lots of fairy tales for my dissertation, where humans are turned into birds.  I had attended a mould making workshop a while ago, so I set about trying to make a plaster mould of a doll's head. I cast another pigeon and cut her head off and replaced it with a cast of the doll head.

 

 

 

I was really encouraged by the results and tried it again but with a different doll head. This is the point at which my beginner's luck ran out. The second head was heavier than the first and the pigeon body started to collapse. I had to sacrifice her perch and feet so I could salvage the rest. Once she was fired I decided to make her some ceramic and wood wheels to get around on. I think I like her even more than the first one now.

 

 

This description makes it sound like it was all quite quick and simple but in fact these pieces were created over a period of several weeks. Now I just can't decide whether or not to colour these latest bird/girl hybrids or keep them white. And should I carry on and make a flock?