The eyes

Adding the rays

Face is complete

Reducing the cane

 Building the face

Reduced slice

How are the individual images created?

 

The images I create are done in many different techniques, but the most common is the cane. 

I start with an idea that I sketch out on paper as a guide.  After deciding on the colors, I use my pigmented clays as a palette and mix and blend the desired colors.  I build my 2D design in a 3D manner, usually as a squat cylinder or a cube shape.  A typical cane for me is 1 1/2” wide and 1” tall.  After it is complete, it is “reduced” by slowly squeezing and stretching until it is the correct dimension for my use.  Most 1 1/2” wide canes are reduced to as little as 1/4” in diameter.  If all goes well, once the ruined ends are removed, the pattern will be seen all the way through the cane.  After resting a few days, it can then be sliced and made into tiles to place on the sculpture.

 

The photos across the top of this page demonstrate the creation of a sun face cane.  The first photo shows how I began by building the eyes.  I used the razor to cut a thin test slice.  I then continued to construct the face and add the rays.  Between the rays I then packed a translucent blue clay. This design was about 2” in diameter and about 1 1/2” tall before reducing.  The fifth photo shows it in the reduction process.  Here, it has gone from 1 1/2” tall to about 3 1/2” long.  Finally, after further reduction, it is sliced and you can see a cross section, much smaller than a dime in the sixth photo.

 

 

How long does a sculpture take to create?

 

The short answer:

The design and execution of the images (created mostly as canes) take a period of 2 to 3 weeks.  The armature for the sculpture is usually formed in less than an hour.  The placement of the image tiles, and finishing of the sculpture usually takes one to two days.

 

The not so short but better explanation:

This is probably the most common question and also the most difficult to answer.  The armature of the sculpture is constructed in usually less than an hour after the clay is thoroughly conditioned.  The shape of the subject is not what takes the time.  But, rather, it is the creation of the images that adorn each piece.  Please see above, “How are the individual images created?”  This explains the making of the cane.  Most images begin as a cane.  A cane can take up to two or more hours to create, and a subject, such as the Garden Toad, may have 15 or more various canes used in its creation.  The selection of canes for the theme is created over a period of 2 to 3 weeks.  This also allows the canes a resting period before slicing to ensure crisp images.  Once all the various canes are made, then sliced with razor or surgical tools into thin tiles,  the small pieces are carefully arranged on the subject armature in the desired pattern.  Seams are burnished and smoothed.  The sculpture is then hardened by heat, cooled, and then wet sanded with a progressively finer grit to make it as polished as possible.  Finally it is sealed or varnished.  This part of the process:  the “tile” placing, smoothing, sanding and finishing, take most of a day, or may go into a second day.  Once four sculptures are created to complete the theme, I start the process all over again with a fresh idea, a new subject with original canes and patterns.  I can only produce an average of two to three pieces per month.  This process can not be hurried or mass-produced.

 

 

What is polymer clay? 

 

Polymer clay is a non-terrestrial, or man made clay exhibiting both organic clay and plastic-like qualities.  It is made by several different manufacturers.  I use two manufacturers’ clays: one very firm, German made clay for the armature of the sculpture, and the other, is a more malleable American made clay for a varied palette of color and its ability to blend the hues and hold sharp contrast in the cane making process.

 

 

What is Millefiori?

 

Millefiori is an Italian word that means, literally, “thousand flowers.”  It is a term that comes from the Italian glass making technique where many narrow glass rods are arranged and then fused into flower patterns, cut into small slices and then fused together again making a “bouquet” of the tiny flowers.  This technique is carried over into polymer clay.

 

 

What is Mokume Gane?

 

Mokume Gane is a term that refers to an ancient Japanese form of metal working.  Thin layers of different hues of metal are fused together in a laminate and then planed away showing the various layers through the slice.  Mokume Gane means, literally, metal wood, or wood grain metal, since it mimics a wood grain look.  This technique is carried over into polymer clay.

 

Are the pieces fragile? 

 

Even though the plastic-like qualities found in polymer clay give each piece a small amount of flexibility, each sculpture should be handled as you would any porcelain or ceramic item.  It can be handled, but you should not expect it to survive being dropped from any significant height onto a hard surface.  All pieces are solid, rather than a hollow shell of the shape like you find in porcelain or ceramic figurines.  Do not pick up a sculpture by any thin clay pieces such as a fin or feather.  They are not fragile, but should be handled using common sense.

 

 

Are the pieces signed?

 

Each piece bears my initials somewhere on it.  And, yes, the initials are in clay, too!

 

 

How do you set a price?

 

Original artwork is quite subjective in its value.  Pricing is very difficult to determine, especially when there are so few similar items in the market that have previously established a value.  This website shows prices based on the complexity and intricacy and time involved in each sculpture.

 

 

Do you have a mailing list?

 

Please use the Contact information in this website.  I will save your email address for informing you of future exhibits or new pieces being introduced.  I do not share email addresses.

 

 

How do I purchase a sculpture?

 

Please use the Contact information in the website and refer to the exact piece in which you are interested.  Also include your mailing address so I can quote shipping and packaging prices.