Pomona and Sliver birch

Most of my pieces are related with animals. But there are two pieces inspired from plants. One is this. I named her Pomona. She is our youngest apple tree in the garden.

Pomona

I am happy with how she turned out. She has some leaves and fruits on her head, and the impression of the leaf on her body is form a real apple leaf from the tree.

I made another tree themed lady. She is Silver birch in February. I wanted to capture the moment when the leaf buds are starting to swell and breaking.

Sliver birch awakening in February

I made Silver birch with grey modelling clay whereas Pomona is with white clay. I made lots of crackles like on barks on her dress and hair, as you can see some in the image below, but they didn't show up as much as I wanted.

Before firing

She was decorated with underglaze and fired at about 1240C degree in a kiln. After that I added enamel effect and she was fired in an oven. 

So she became somewhat different from what I expected in the end. But I am happy with how she looks now. But I will not make any figures with grey clay as underglaze don't show up well. 

Silver birch and the crescent

I was looking at silver birches which gave me inspiration during a walk this afternoon. Most trees lost leaves, but a few still have many leaves somehow. It was a really chilly day despite the bright sunshine. 

I had a short chat with one of neighbours whom I had never talked with even though we moved here in 1995! I am glad that we could finally have a meaningful chat today! What was the subject you wonder? Of course, it was about weather! 

Have a lovely weekend! 

Have a nice weekend!