Scrap Atavisms

I hate dumping clay leftovers in the slip bucket. After a certain point, the clay is unworkable, but sometimes I prefer producing crude non-sculptures such as the objects below to giving it up to be recycled by the studio.

Devotion Icon/Cultural Icon

The matte red underglaze didn't come out red enough, so I repainted the Devotion Icon's hair with acrylic paint. It makes the piece neither more nor less crappy.




The Devotion Icon joins the cast of the cultural icons of Jersey Shore

Rollo Bones, Canine Trivet

I sent my sister a box of thrift store books for nephew Milo. Among them was the classic of la literatura infantil, Rollo Bones Canine Hypnotist. I made a Rollo Bones object, intending it to be used as a wall hanging, but it was apparently more suited to being a trivet.

Quint Devotion

The Quint Devotion utilizes arms from a set of doll molds and a face from a Disney-branded doll (although I don't recognize the character) with a hard face perfect for mold making, as opposed to those annoying Barbies with their grotesque, squishy faces. I made five molds of varying quality from the doll's face and this devotion utilizes all five.




I stare at you with my cold, dead eyes.

Tree Trunk Devotion

This is the Tree Trunk Devotion, featuring a face, torso, and arms from a set of doll molds.

Fiend Devotion

The Fiend Devotion is part of this year's crop of clay Halloween objects. The Devotions are pieces made with parts from a doll mold, in this case the arms, one of which broke off in the kiln. The head is from a candy container which screams and giggles when jostled in any way (see below).




The head resembles the skull face originally from the film serial The Crimson Ghost, which was recycled in the eighties as the logo and mascot for the hardcore punk band the Misfits.

Wererat Idol

My wererat idol is based on a inflatable rat used as a satirical mascot by an electrical workers' union in New Jersey. The glaze used for most of the body is called "pussywillow," but applied lightly it comes out mouse gray.












Since this is a wererat, it has the ability to assume a human/rat hybrid form, which is in this case portrayed by its very human pair of buttocks. The buttocks (and paws) were left the natural color of the clay with only a few coats of transparent glaze for that erotic rat-ass shine effect.

Last of the Miniatures

These are lesser fire elementals, the last of the miniatures for this season of D&D Encounters.




This is an image of the Misfits' fiend/Crimson Ghost logo/mascot which is intended to be used as a mold.

Devotion Icon

This is the last of the first group of 2011 Halloween Devotions. It's attached to a flat slab of clay and doesn't stand on its own. It has a reddish halo, so it's the Devotion Icon.

Tall Devotion

This is the Tall Devotion, another doll-parts experiment, this time with a baby's face and a distorted (adult) female torso.

Horned Devotion

This is the Horned Devotion, the result of continued experimentation with the doll molds.

Waddling Devotion

The first of the Halloween Devotions is the Waddling Devotion. The doll mold used to make the faces and torso is made for polymer clay. It comes out distorted with the natural, silicon-based clay that I use, which suits my purposes just fine.








The Waddling Devotion is two faced. Here is the other side.

Devotion Coin

I was planning on calling this series of Halloween decorations Doll Atavisms, but I think I like Devotions better.

This is both the most recent in my series of coins and one of the Devotions. The inscription says $∅, implying that it's worth not zero dollars, but the empty set.

Mobile Project

The Furious Ape Stars found a home hanging up in the kitchen. I started a new set of stars to be used in a mobile project.

Rat Vestige

The game called for dire rats and these are what I managed to produce.




I found a package of sticky rats at Target and they were much more easily recognizable as rats. The packaging also had potential as a mold for more clay rats.




This was the primitive-looking result. I can't decide which photo I like better so I'm including both. Note the details of the texture of the black sweatshirt I use as a background.

Plaguechanged Oozes 2 and 3

These are more plaguechanged oozes for my D&D Encounters game. The original ooze splits into two when sufficiently wounded, so I thought I should have at least three miniatures ready.




This is my favorite ooze. The person who runs the studio and unloaded it from the bisque kiln mistook it for the work of a student with severe brain damage.

Chamsa 43

This is a new chamsa pattern. It's smaller than the ones I usually use - about 4 inches long.

Brain Mold

I've been looking for a good brain mold for years and I finally found it.




It was for sale at Target and came with a packet of brightly colored, artificially flavored gelatin mix (bones and hooves - spooky). The plastic is thinner and cheaper than I was hoping, but I think it has potential for future brain-related clay products.

Halloween Devotions

I'm devoting the month to making Halloween decorations. The plan involved buying some economically priced Halloween objects, making molds of their faces, and creating monstrosities.




The skull face on the right comes from the plastic skull attached to a candy container at the far left of the photo below. It giggles evilly and screams when jostled in any way and the eyes flash red. The candy contained the red dye called Carmine, which is made from crushed beetles and is thus not vegan.




The various doll face molds are from this lovely object I bought at Good Will. It has a Disney stamp on it, but I don't recognize the character. It had long fake eyelashes which came off when I made the mold. I made a mold of the eyelash itself and the mold survived the bisque kiln, but somehow I lost it while carrying it to my shelf.