Day Two

Its been a long one but I will make this brief - I have spent the day shaping the shoes which form the base of my figures.  To all of you ceramic novices out there;  these are hollow to allow heat to build up evenly in the clay  - too thick or solid and the heat will be uneven and pieces will crack and blow up - not to mention being heavy as Hull.

I have cut paper templates of all the small bits which make up the forms - I swear there's probably just as much 'bits' that make up an actual shoe pattern.
The pieces only start to come together once I 'paddle' them with a wooden spatula - I can then from and refine the shapes before smoothing with metal scrapers and finally, with a rubber kidney.

I have wrapped each foot individually so they keep nice and moist before I begin to build up legs.  Tomorrow, I will begin to cut and shape the details on each shoe, which should be fun as I have 4 pairs of Ghillie Brogues....

like little soldiers all in a row

offering up the cut-ots before taking them all off and scratching them to join

After paddling and smoothing

A homage to the cartoon shoe that was 'dipped' by Christopher Lloyd in Who Framed Roger Rabbit...

One of the 11 pairs of lady-shoes

Happit-up

Pile of scrap that will be dried and made into paperclay next week

FIN

19 pairs of feet in all

Dont they look preddy?