Eryops Sculpture

Eryops is an extinct amphibian with a crocodile-like form.

I used one on the Empress Tarot card and this is a sculptural version. 

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Dogface Hallucigenia

Hallucigenia is a fossil organism from the Burgess Shale.  It has always come out vaguely dog-like for me.

Anomalocaris Sculpture from 2004

I made this sculpture in 2004 when I started working with clay.  One of the mouth parts broke off.  I eventually glued it back together, but I didn't glaze it because I didn't think the glue would survive the glaze kiln.

Hallucigenia With Dog Head

This is an old sculpture that was damaged at a craft fair.  I like how dog heads look on hallucigenia bodies.

Hallucigenia Sculpture

I've attempted many hallucigenia before, but always upside down, with the spikes pointing down and the legs pointing up, in the way that it was originally envisioned.  Here is a hallucigenia in the correct up-down orientation.  I'm still not sure about the front-back orientation.

Green Wiwaxia

These are interpretations of Wiwaxia, the fossil organism from the Burgess Shale.  The green one has a clear glaze over copper carbonate.

Wiwaxia 3:

Ventral View:

Blue Wiwaxia

These are interpretations of Wiwaxia, the fossil organism from the Burgess Shale.  The blue one has clear glaze over cobalt carbonate.

Wiwaxia 2:

Ventral View:

Hallucigenia Series

This is a new series of sculptural interpretations of the Burgess Shale organism called Hallucigenia.  They are based on the original, incorrect interpretation of Hallucigenia as a worm like creature with spine-like legs and tentacles on its back.  It has since been shown to be related to modern velvet worms and to be a creature with tentacle-like legs and spines on its back.

Purple Hallucigenia

Blue Hallucigenia

Green Hallucigenia

Red Hallucigenia

Group Photo

Trilobite Cup

This is a slab cup with molds from a fossil trilobite.  There are five trilobites around the outside and one on the inside bottom.

Pikaia 8 and 9

Pikaia 8 has the "floating blue" glaze.  It's usually a deeper blue when applied heavily and brownish with blue highlights when applied lightly.  I dipped it in the glaze (as opposed to painting it on like I usually do), so I'm surprised that it isn't a deeper blue.

Pikaia 9 has the reddish "plum" glaze.

Pikaias 6 and 7

Pikaia 6

Pikaia 7
I've already written about this elsewhere, but I'm not over it yet, so I'll write it again.  This was the first time in about a year that I've put my work out in the kiln shed to be loaded and unloaded by the regular kiln volunteers instead of reserving a kiln and doing it all myself.  The result was a broken tentacle.  I used the pikaia with the broken tentacle as a glaze test.  I don't think the reddish brown glaze looks good on pikaias.

Trilobite Menorah

This is a black slab menorah with green trilobites.  The trilobites are molded from a fossil.  Since clay shrinks when fired, I made smaller versions by making an impression of the fossil in clay, using the impression as a mold, and then making an impression from the smaller trilobite.  Each iteration was a little more distorted and became unrecognizable after the fourth time.

Primeval, Voodoo, and Lovecraft

Return to Opabinia Island

I already did an Opabinia post in 2010, but it came up in a Deviantart conversation and I took some better pictures.  Opabinia is a bizarre fossil invertebrate with five eyes from the Burgess Shale.

This is my second Opabinia.  It's 11 inches long.  I made it some time between 2004 and 2006.

This is my first Opabinia.  It was one of my earliest clay pieces.  The snout broke off and I glued it back on.

Tully Monster

This is a clay interpretation of the fossil organism known as the Tully monster.  The Tully monster is the state fossil of Illinois, the only place it has been found.  The fossil is not well enough preserved to clearly place the animal in any extant phylum.

An artist's depiction of the Tully monster:

Despite the way the name sounds, Tully monster was not a character on Sesame Street.