Unexpected Playtime

Younger Son was signed up for a Sunday afternoon class with local potter Becky Zee.

Unfortunately, he wasn't feeling great yesterday so he sent me in his place with just under 45 minutes notice.

This was the room at the Botanic Gardens when I arrived.

 

One of the instructor's example pieces.

The "model" for this particular class - his name is Squeegee.

Another example for a future class - the baby sister of Squeegee named MoMo.

We started with the feet.  Toes are harder to make than it might appear.

Next we created what Becky calls "French fry" hair and let it sit while the eight of us made our critters' bodies, arms, noses, and eyes before finally adding the hair.

Painting - we had our option of close to 20 colors.  I went with purple for the body, a sage green for the tie and toenails, and a shockingly bright yellow for the hair.  

Once fired, I'm hoping the colors are smoother than they looked when I left the classroom. 

And I most especially hope my critter doesn't lose too many strands of hair in the kiln.

For my very first experience at hand-building with clay, I'm not at all unhappy with the results.  Becky is an excellent instructor and leads a well-paced class with lots of understated side comments that add insight and a wealth of how-to-hints.

After family dinner was over, I showed the photos to Young Man and asked him to name my critter.  He pondered for a bit and then very seriously proclaimed "Spikey" which totally works for me.

The finished version Spikey will be ready in a couple of weeks and yes, I'll share "after" photos (unless he ends up bald).

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P.S.  When I shared my sketched plan for Dragon Fyre with Young Man, he enthusiastically gave two-thumbs-up approval.  With the backing fabric finally here (bad weather delays), I'm ready to get going on the project. (and Younger Son is feeling much better today, thankfully)

Quiltdivajulie

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"Art is an experience, not an object."

Robert Motherwell