New Work: Lightning

I like this small wall hanging, measuring in at roughly 8″ x 7,” though the piece cracked profusely for some reason. I expected some cracking around the stones, which were pressed into the sculpture just before the clay body was leather-hard. I can’t even remember off-hand what that clay is; it may be what was left in the house my wife and I bought from an artist’s estate almost three years ago now (I’m pretty sure it was a low-fire white clay). The cracking doesn’t bother me in the finished product, but to insure it lasts I glued a piece of masonite onto the back.

The stones are herkimer, something I hadn’t worked with before last year. They cracked during the firing creating unexpected prisms. The finish is a commercial Duncan glaze called milk glass that I really like.