I love RED!

Here are the final stages in the pomegranate process. After hours & hours of carving & shaping I got the clay as close as I could to the shape of the real fruit. I added some texture by pressing steel wool into the surface, then when it dried out a little more I ran my hand over it to remove any leftover metal on the surface. Actually I was afraid it might blow up & damage someone else's piece. This is what it looked like before the texturing.

I forgot one major step, the hollowing out. Hollowing out is tricky business! It's like baking cookies, if they aren't all fairly uniform in thickness you can have burnt parts or parts that aren't baked through. I'm sure it's more complicated than that...with the whole exploding potential but you get the idea!

This what it looked like after I painted it. Can you tell there are about 5 layers of spray paint on it? Yellow, 2 reds, purple & brown. I applied them layer by layer then rubbed it off with steel wool to create the highlights.That is the original, month old, pomegranate beside my mammoth piece. You may be able to tell it is a little "leathery"!

I'm okay with my finished piece. It's more "rustic" than the other pieces in my class but that is my aesthetic...rustic. I like it! I wish I had photos of the other students work...it is AMAZING! I can't believe the talent in that small class.