Seawoman with adopted octobaby!

Sculpture coming together for next week!  This piece was one of the last ones to get a box today.

.....So I was thinking about people around the world who adopt babies who they did not give birth to, the love that involves.  I work at the farmers market selling my fathers woodworking and I see a lot of foster and adoptive families.  Thinking about foster parents or adopting parents, what they feel like, and what the children feel like in their new families.  I created this 18" seawoman sculpture holding a little octobaby  (i love doing suckers!).

Below are a few of the steps to making her...

So I began by using English Grolleg from Clay art center in Puyallup, WA.  She was pretty quick to come out, but of course I had to add a little octo in there!  The suckers are a big part of octopuses, so I wanted them to be at least a little realistic.  Each one is added individually and I have to work on each one about 4 times during whole process. Finalizing with an indentation and a tiny hole in the center for affect(tho glaze may fill some of it).  Her tail was long and delicate, so I added it last.

THE KILN!   This Pic shows me loading the kiln for the seawomen and forest men which will show at Splash next week.....
When I shut down my ceramic production studio during the recession (see terroso studio) I sold everything in my studio i could in an attempt to save my home (I succeeded, but with help from family members!  Thank you!).  My father had the foresight to buy up my equipment in an effort to both hold it for me if I got back into ceramics, and for his own creative dabbling.  After 3-4 years of storage, we set it up in March, just in time for an April show.  This is my old sturdy kiln!  She has fired thousands of gardenware and light fixtures over the years.  Thanks Dad!

I think I will call this new piece, Sea mother.  I know its simple, but I like simple!  This is a detail of the box and its carving.  I spend about 2-4 hours on the boxes, and in their final stage about an hour or two on the black painting and sealants.  For now I like the boxes black against the bright shiny white of the sculptures.

CLOSE UP PIC....Here she is in a close up pic with her baby.  I will finish her in the next few days for showing in the Splash Gallery in Olympia, WA