Inner journeys

As I travel forward, staff in hand; familiar by my side, I am aware of opening into realms I do not know. Travelling to lands yet I invisioned. I am the seeker who yearns to know, the wanderer searching for home but I am never truly alone. The wolf pup in its youth looks outward knowingly expecting. The bluebird of happiness watching on and amethyst staff to light my way. Like all good stories this is the beginning seeking a passage through. The spirals of potential swirl around her as her inner knowing guides her and she sails on. Onyx to speed my journey, red coral …a spark of passion ignited and I sail forward. Spiralling base grounding emotions. Copper of Gaia to guide me through the turbulant waves until I reach the awaiting shore.

The Process

• Slightly overlooked but to get this amount of detail she went through 4 firings,
• firstly I made a base piece from Mont Marta air dry clay and allowed her to dry.
• then I added detail to the girl and created the staff and added copper and an amethyst point.
  

  A base to begin with.

  

• next I fired her
• then it was time to make the wolf pup from scratch and fire again.
• after that I developed one side of the boat with copper, polymer clay spirals and dot details.
• I then also added the black onyx chips, the red coral chip and the bluebird of happiness.
• fire again
•  turn over and repeat on the other side
• fire for a fourth time and she is ready to bake
• the next stage is to stain and paint the surface…another experimental field to play in.

So now I think she is finished but not without challenge. I decided to try a different paint and ended up to dark and risked soaking her forgetting that I also had air dry clay in the mix…woops. Luckily I had gessoed her and the air dry clay held firm. I then used a magic sponge to rub off excess stain. She now works I think and looks as though she has journeyed and aged along the way. Every step opens possibilities. I need to let myself stay light…in colour and mood. Started using inktense pastels to stain areas which worked really well.

Each New piece is full of different learning. Never perfect but searching for that sense of completion.NI want to try making a mould frame to create a boat over by draping it over the top so that it will release the boat and be finer. Still learning so much and learning about how far I can extend what I am doing.