The Water Carrier

This is my new project The Water Carrier. I will be posting images as I progress

along with sketches and some video. She is inspired by the traditional pots and decoration of the Kalinago people, our local monkey pots and water jars and my interest and fascination with the Benin bronzes and all things feminine and of water  . Enjoy 

This a mix of two local clays, a smooth yellow and very rough grey that  I had to
soak and sieve a couple of times before I mixed it.
The pot is made using coiling and is hollow. The bowl at the top has a hole that opens out into the main body of the vessel.
I am planing to carve into the bowl and body of the pot.

I love carving into clay. There is a point where it becomes leather hard and it is firm enough to take some pressure and have some bite when it is cut with a knife. At this time you can get a lot of detail and still correct any mistakes. 
I did some drawings a while back but haven't really looked at them since, so I started this piece free hand. So far I am happy with what I have achieved.

Carving the bowl. Speed x 2 .Opps continuity is a bit off !

I still have a lot of cleaning up to do but I will tackle that once I have carved the main body and joined the two together

I have drawn the pattern that I will carve into the body. The bowl and body will have a seamless join when complete. 

I have begun carving the main body.

Sketches

Sketches

I have started carving the main body. 

More carving of the body

Carving the bottom

Plenty of cleaning up to do

Getting there

Complete

The next stage is to leave to dry and fire 

Fired and polished

Exhibition of new work