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ARTIST’S STATEMENT   Since I was young, I have been fascinated by the Lewis Carroll story of Alice in Wonderland, but I have always been disappointed that dodos are no longer walking among us. This is my little way of redressing the balance.

When I first started designing birds in clay, I did not have the funds to create objects that were rather large and tricky to sell; so I built lots of safe and popular birds like swans and penguins. Although I enjoy making these gentle designs, I had a longing to create something more obscure and with a slight edge. Eventually I was in a position to just work for my own amusement and from the heart and so the dodo came in to being. The first outing of this quirky bird brought him to the attention of His Royal Highness King Charles, at a Prince’s Trust funded event. Lots of press coverage and sales gave me the encouragement and confidence to explore more personal themes; hence the vultures, crows and rats. Sometimes it is worth devoting the time to develop those hidden ideas and dreams instead of always taking the safe road.

SIZE  41 cm high by 33 cm wide from beak to tail by 19 cm wide from the front.
WEIGHT   Approximately 8 kg
COLOUR   Cream, brown, blue and white glazes with brown, tan and black oxide details.
MATERIALS   Valentine’s Stoneware crank and smooth modelling clay fired ceramic to 1260 degrees.
RANGE   The Dodo collection includes the large Dodo, Aristocrat (Steampunk) Dodo, Dodo with Alice girls on their back and a Little Dodo. There is also a Dodo in the Light Pull range and a Dodo Egg Cup design.

METHOD OF CONSTRUCTION   A coiled body is fixed on to tubular legs. Slab wings and tail feathers are added to the dodo and a large pinch pot is modelled to form the head. The piece is allowed to dry a little between stages to give it the strength to carry the weight of the design. The piece is then carved with fine textures and marks starting form the beak and ending at the feet. I usually work on several dodos at a time and usually finish the carving by the end on the week. The work is then left for up to three weeks to dry out fully before being fired in an electric kiln for a bisque firing at 1000°C. It will take another 24 hours for the kiln to cool down so that all the work can be emptied out and glazed. We make all our own stoneware glazes, which are dipped, poured, painted and sprayed on to our designs. Once glazed all the work goes back into the kiln for a second firing of up to 1260°C. This firing will fix the glaze permanently in to place and also make the piece frost proof and water resistant. From start to finish each large Zoo Ceramics design can take about a month to complete.

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