When I finished up the wax branches for the moulds last week, I was making final glaze decisions. The idea of bark will be conveyed in the glaze and not in the surface of the clay as I had been […]
These richly enamelled and gilded Easter eggs were made by the Russian Imperial Porcelain Factory in the late 19th and early 20th century. The Romanov family tradition was to present eggs such as these to guests at the annual Easter […]
It was a busy week of mould making. Many smaller components were dealt with. The slip moulds for several branches, the garbage can and liner, the bench planks and standard are now drying. Feels like things are going in the […]
This deluxe toy soldier came in the same lot as the Porthos in last week’s post. Another revelation hidden under layers of soot and grease. While I might have thought this could be a Russian soldier a week ago, research […]
When I saw this Porthos in a lot of five very grimy and underrated miniatures, I recognized it from a 2009 auction catalogue. The catalogue has a marked example made by the Imperial Porcelain Factory (IPF) from the period of […]
I have been finding time here and there to complete the model for the cat head light. A few more hours should do it. Then comes the plaster mould. The back of it will accommodate wiring and hanging. This part […]
When I tried to seriously pose one of the action figures to see what I needed to build, I quickly realized the backs of my benches were too high. No seated furry could have their arm on top of the […]
The bench evolved in a very organic way. When it came time to get started, using resin no longer made sense. What I needed to do was explore. Plaster and wax are better for that. Resin is for when you […]
I have to laugh at myself. I cut down the tree that was my breakthrough and then eliminated the stump that was to become a symbol because I didn’t like how it worked with the other components. Then I started […]
This is an extremely rare pair of vases with views of old Saint Petersburg c.1840. They were made by a prominent Russian Private Factory. One shows the Alexander Column in Palace Square with the city seen by way of the […]