All pieces are built with terra cotta or porcelain clay. Most begin with a slab, to which coils of clay have been added.
At the leather-hard stage they are hand-carved on an easel, using spot lighting, so that I am working with light and shadow from the get-go. Pieces are burnished, and then allowed to dry slowly. After the initial bisque firing, they are painted with successive thin layers of stained terra sigillata (a finely milled and decanted clay slip), burnished, and fired to cone 04 (earthenware temperature). The finished pieces are rubbed with a fine layer of cold wax, polished, and set into recessed “shadow-box” hardwood frames.