Cinderella takes some finding Sculpture

These shoes invite you to look and admire them. No two shoes are the same! Taking a lump of clay, I soften it with the heat from my hands, becoming familiar with the texture, manipulating the shape not yet formed. Shoes are big business today and can make or break an outfit. We know shoes by their maker's name, sometimes more famous than the shoe itself (Manolo Blahnik). When making shoes my reference points are flowers and nature. Some of my shoes are shell-like with scalloped edges while others are sharp and mean business. The technical challenge is to make an intricate small shoe that does not fall apart during the firing process. To do this, I need to balance delicacy of decoration with surviving the firing process. For example, sculpting flower shapes and heels that add a distinct characteristic. This is also true when applying colour decoration, certain colours, such as red, do not maintain their pigment if fired at too high a temperature. I enjoy trying out different surface textures, for example, covering a work surface with rice grains and rolling a slab of clay on to this. I hope to achieve an organic sense of beauty . My decoration approach is varied and spontaneous as each shoe takes on a life of its own. A few shoes have been cast in bronze, and others have provided inspiration for my etchings.