I enjoyed making this piece. I first threw on my wheel its body as a straight, narrow cylinder, which I altered with my hands to resemble a crouching dog's body, just the core. Then I threw the head on the wheel as well and altered its shape, too. Then the rest of the body parts, legs, tail, etc., were loosely hand-shaped and carefully attached, using both my fingers and many different small tools, to the emerging dog sculpture. Then I had to wait a while, hours, for the piece to firm up before I could refine its shape and give it as much personality as I could. Then I put it up to dry, but I was constantly checking back on it to tweak a foot here, a shoulder there, etc., until it became too dry to make any more refinements. And you know the rest: When it was bone-dry, and when I had enough other pieces to fill a kiln, I bisque-fired it, painted it with underglazes (which act like artists' paints but can be fired and become permanent), then glazed it, and then finally fired it again, hopefully to end up with a piece worthy of showing to the world. This little guy I think is definitely ready to meet its public and maybe go to another good home.
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