Making wings for my sculpture, the firefly!

This is a sculpture that I've been working on for a while now, probably for over a year, since the body had to be build twice, and so on... You see, I wanted to make it out of porcelain, very thin, so if I put a light inside it would show through, but my first attempt came out too thick.

As you probably already know, my sculptures are all round, so to make this shape using just a very thin layer of clay is definitely a challenge. So I did a second one, much thinner, but this time I was not taking any chances, and made little tiny holes just in case I want to put lights inside!! I feel that if I go thinner with the clay it would just be too fragile for transportation.

The head and the pair of wings I made out of regular stoneware and applied an oxide on them. Oh, wait! The winds I made them twice, as well. The thing is that my first pair of wings were laid flat in the kiln so they flattened. The second pair came out just perfect... but I think they are too fragile for transportation. Yes, I have to always think about transportation when I make my sculptures, otherwise they won't make it to their destinations.

Therefore, after giving it a lot of thought I came up with the idea of making them out of copper. It's the perfect color and it would add some light to my firefly, don't you think?

I started by tracing my wings into the copper, using my stoneware wings as pattern.

Then, I cut the copper sheet... oh, how I wish I would have worn globes! ...and filed the borders all around, to get rid of sharp edges.

Ready  for some action?

It's time to apply heat to my new copper wings in order to shape them. I've never worked with a torch before, but I take my Mixed Media title very seriously, so here it goes!!!

...and my wings are done!

Thanks to my friend Lilian who stopped by to guide me through...

Finish sculpture coming soon!!!