Ceramic elephant made from stoneware clay . The elephant is made on a hardboard armature which is covered with bubblewrap sculptured to the shape of an elephant. Small pieces of clay are then imprinted with fabric and other tools to create interesting textures. The pieces of clay are then placed on the armature until this is completely covered with clay. The tusks are then added and other detail . The elephant is left to dry for about a week and then fired to 1000C or bisque temperature. During this process the underlying armature will burn off in the kiln.
The elephant is then coloured with underglaze and oxides and re-fired to 1200 C. Finally mother of pearl lustre is applied to the tusks and toe nails and gold lustre to the saddle area and a third firing is done to 800C

I have worked in Tanzania teaching in a hospital for several years and was lucky enough to go on safaris and see many elephants. They are lovely intelligent creatures. This is my take on them. My sculptures are not meant to be exact copies of animals but rather to express the essence of the creature.