Owl of Gears
I sculpted this branch, gears for flowers and steam punk owl in a design class I took the summer of 2015. I really like steampunk, and was inspired after creating a collage of tools, gears and other miscellaneous things in a previous design class I took the winter/spring of 2015. I also love owls and flowers. Besides the quick five minute human form sculptures I did in a figure drawing class, this was my first experience with clay sculpture. I loved it! I didn’t mind that it got under my fingernails or dried out my hands. The feeling of playing with the clay was so much fun. It was very different than painting or drawing, but was just as satisfying. The gears I created on a clay wheel, and use real gears that were a foot in diameter as guidance. The large gear has my initials and the smaller gear has my son Xander’s initials. To make the leaves I took real leaves and laid them on the clay forms I had made and let the leaves dry to imprint the veins and tiny details for each leaf. For the owl, I used an image of a cute little fuzzy owl as a sort of model, but then stamped and carved the design into the owl on a whim. That’s one of the things I like best about this piece, the spontaneity of the owl design. I designed this sculpture to hang on a wall by two ropes, so I cut out two holes in the branch on each end. But, since we don’t have a place that we own yet here in California, I don’t want to make huge holes in the wall with anchors. Because, this Owl of Gears sculpture is pretty heavy, it would need the support. After I was finished sculpting it, I let it dry for a week and a half. Then, I brushed on iron oxide and it was put into a kiln to fire. The firing process takes days, and depending on how many sculptures are in the kiln and their size, and the type of kiln determines how many days it will take to complete the firing process. Unfortunately, we moved to California before I could see it’s end results, I had to wait until we went back to Illinois for the holidays to see it. Where it was kept safe at my parents until I was able to see how awesome it turned out. I have to say, that for my first clay sculpture, it’s pretty neat.
