Clay creations – Mike Jaycock

Replying

I’m liking this guy. There’s attitude in those eyes. Kinda reminds me of the wolf howl that took place each week during the summer up at Haliburton Forest and Wildlife Preserve. This guy looks like he might be replying to some distant invitation. As the wolf dries there’ll be more detail and cleaning up. I plan to handpaint him prior to bisque, and then give him the black unglaze wash. Should pop out the detail beautifully. Into the kiln on Tuesday (after some of the family has had a nice long weekend in Haliburton.)

It may be wet outside but things are drying up in the studio

It’s taken a few days for things to dry up. Cecil, in particular, because of his size and clay content has taken about 6 days to fully dry out. Time to do some underglaze work before he goes into the kiln.

A new bear, I call him the “fishing bear”, has formed very nicely, and he is just about dried. The base will receive an underglaze wash but other than that he’s ready for stage 1 firing.

There’s a joy watching things come together and taking the time to enjoy the journey. Hearing the national and international news in a morning it’s always a delight to sequester myself away, with a lump of clay, and allow better thoughts to occupy my mind.

Back into the studio this morning to do some prep work for the next project. Frogs are involved. It’s a bit tricky, the idea that I have, but I think that with a bit of ingenuity it can work (from an engineering standpoint.) Stay tuned. Also, making a drop mold for when our grand daughters arrive on the weekend (sans parents.) We have a page of options for the girls so I’m sure they’ll find something they’d like to work on with “grumpa”.

Cecil is progressing nicely

Cecil, is an upper crust bunny, well known amongst the more refined of the animal kingdom. He, Billy Badger and Ginger Toad gather each week to discuss issues of common interest. In this `snapshot` in time, we find Cecil, in his smoking jacket enjoying a favourite cigar. He is in the process of making a point to his friends.

With basic assembly done, the fine work begins followed by the bisque firing, hand painting and then the clear glaze firing. Another week and Cecil should be quite fine indeed. As one would expect with an upper crust bunny, Cecil is a commissioned piece, thus his stay at our humble abode will be short, but sweet.

New clay sculpture .. Elephant

Ready to go for first firing … my elephant. I’ve been wanting to have a go creating an elephant for almost a year now. My cousin Ros has a lovely collection of elephants as does Pat (my mother’s cousin’s dear wife.) I admired their displays while Jane and I were in England last year. So many sad stories have been reported in the past while about mistreatment of these massive yet sensitive animals. I wanted to reflect their spirit in the piece.
I like what I see thus far.

A personal project is this handsome cigar ash tray. It should be the envey of knowledgeable puffers.

Also in the works, a rather complex commissioned piece … hope to be on top of that by next week. More to come.

The “Restin’ Rabbit” is sitting pretty.

A dark wash to enhance and a light glaze to his clothes and he is all done. I’m pleased with the result. The little guy makes me want to slow down a notch and contemplate what’s going on in the furry reaches of his mind. He’s thinking, that’s for sure. Perhaps he’s concluded that “sitting down on the job” is OK once in a while.