Blue Voynich Nymph (glaze firing)
This is an update on my current sculpture in progress, which started with making a miniature porcelain figure inspired by an illustration on folio 82r of the Voynich Manuscript. After bisque firing the porcelain (the first of two kiln firings), I applied some color. One of the more unusual features of this figure is her blue headwear, the style of which is unique to this one particular illustration in the manuscript.
Below is how the glaze looked before firing. The color becomes brighter after it is heated in the kiln, so the part that will be a deeper blue starts out looking more like a pale blue-gray. I used very minimal glaze for the rest of the figure since I wanted to keep the plain unglazed porcelain for the body. So I used just a touch of dark brown underglaze to highlight the features and lines. To apply this, I painted on more than was needed and then wiped it off with a wet sponge, leaving the color only in the carved lines such as the eyebrows and eyes. (The sponging-off of the excess glaze also left a bit of color on the white part of the porcelain, making the skin look like more of a tan color, but this residue burns off in the kiln firing.) Then I added just a small amount of red underglaze for the blush and mouth. For the blue head covering, I used a porcelain slip instead of a glaze; this is just porcelain clay in a liquid form with a blue pigment added. It give a different effect than a glaze, and I used this because I wanted a textured, brushed surface to mimic the look of the fading blue ink. As with some of my other “Voynich nymph” figure sculptures, I want them to look a bit like a rough sketch, leaving some imperfections and awkwardly drawn features that capture the character and body proportions of the original images.
And below, the results after the glaze firing:
For the next steps to make the rest of the sculpture, I’ll be doing some glasswork and possibly incorporating some other materials as well. Some other elements of the structure will be based on the original drawing from Voynich folio f82r, but with some more of my own modifications as I interpret the design in three dimensions and adapt it into a free-standing structure. To be continued…
