Saturday - MORE clay!

"Hallo There"

Yes, I have to admit, I have a weakness.

It's clay.

But really, how could I refuse this face? I mean, look at those eyes, that posture, that complete sad cow look? Isn't he adorable!

This little guy came to me at work. I was taking break in between pictures, and I drew a quick diagram of this fella on a piece of scrap paper. I wanted that cock to his head,  that sort of shy helplessness with his front hooves, and that all-around lovableness.

See his cute little bow? I
thought that was a cute
addition.

I'm not entirely sure what to call him. He sort of looks like a Monty to me. What do you think? Thankfully, since I gave him to my mother, who is a cow fanatic, I do not have to worry too much about naming him. I can just gloat.

For this little guy, I used a lump of white clay and mixed it up really good with the leftover clay that I used for my dragon critter previously. It created a really handsome aged white look. I took a lump of clay about the size of an olive, rolled it smooth, then formed it into an elongated teardrop. I pushed the bigger end down on the table, to create a flat surface for him to sit on. :)

Then I took another bit of clay about the size of a smallish marble and rolled it so it was just the teensiest bit oval. I angled it on the thin upper point of his body, and used my sharp clay tool to blend the neck and head together. For his wee bit snout I took a ball of clay that was about the size of a rosary bead and flattened it just the tiniest bit. With my sharp clay tool I blended that into his head, making the little snub-snout look.

Even his back end is cute!

I wanted to make sure he had a suitably round shape, so I worked at the clay for a little at this point, trimming off excess and rolling him in my hands until his upper part was narrow-ish and the "weight" sank mostly to his hips and belly. Then I took and formed a long snake of the white clay for his forelegs, with a small ball of black clay at the tips for his hooves, and smoothed those right onto his front, where it looked like his shoulders would be if he were standing. (Ignore that run-on sentence, 'kay?) Once those were positioned to my satisfaction, I took two balls of white clay, each about the size of a rosary bead, and rolled them out so that there was a snake of clay on one end, and a ball of clay at the other. I took the ball side, flattened it a little, and attached it at an angle to the back end of his body, so that it formed what looked like haunches and a back leg. I smoothed those legs in pretty good, until all the creases were gone. It took a pretty good while, but at last I was satisfied.

How'm I looking?

Once I got all his legs attached, I went to work on his face. For his horns, I mixed together orange and white until I got that nice woody sort of colour. Then I rolled the orange/white into a stubby snake, cut it in two, and rolled the separate snakes until I formed a point at one end of each the snakes. I curled these snakes gently in my hands, and with my sharp clay tool I positioned them on his head, and blended them on. For his eyes, I used my sharp clay tool (remember, I mentioned last time that this was my fav'rite tool!) to gently roll eye sockets into his face, then inserted two minuscule black balls into the sockets for his eyes. I rolled two white bits of clay into very very thin, fine snakes, and used those to form his eyelids. Then I used the sharp clay tool's point to form his nostrils and shape his snout. Next, I took a bit of black clay, flattened it really well, and cut teensy little strips off it. I twisted the strips ever-so-gently in between my fingers so that they made curls, and used my sharp clay tool to position each separate curl on his head, for his hair.

Ta da! Aren't I
aDORable?

After that, I rolled out some white clay into a snake and attached it to his bottom for his tail, and cut little teensy flat white strips of clay, which I twisted and then fastened to the end of the snake to form his tuft. Then I flattened two little balls of white clay into small circles, and pinched one end of the circle closed to fashion his ear. Again using my sharp pointed clay tool, I affixed them to his head under his hair with very careful blending strokes. For the last touch I mixed together crimson and white to create a very pale pink colour, and rolled out a long thin snake of that to tie about his tail, and give him a bow.

Then I baked him at 275 for about 35 minutes. When he came out, he looked just so pleased with himself. My mom was pretty pleased, too. In fact, all my little sisters are placing orders. Jacinta wants a Panda, and I think Annie said something about a puppy. We'll see. For now, there's the cow.

Thanks for stopping by and letting me gloat! I will see you all later.

God bless!