I started working on another porcelain sculpture, inspired by another one of the pool illustrations in the Voynich manuscript. I decided to go big with this one—

Each of the two halves is the maximum size that will fit in the kiln I use, so this is the reason for making it in two parts. After firing, I will connect them together. The walls in the center are just temporary; they will help to prevent any warping from happening in the kiln and will ensure that the edges of the walls will match up together the way I want them to. I will remove the center walls before finally connecting the two halves with a very strong epoxy cement after the two halves are fired.

Also, the spot where they join together will later be disguised by covering it with another one of the raised details that I’ve placed at intervals all around the walls. So the join will become invisible as part of the design that looks like this.

Similar to the other pool I am making, I plan to fill this one with green resin, and it will have porcelain “nymphs” standing in the water, based on this drawing from the Voynich manuscript:

If I sculpt the nymphs in porcelain at about the same size that I’ve made them before, the pool does actually need to be this long to accommodate all of them! (Even though the individual figures themselves are fairly small. The porcelain will shrink by about 15% when it fires, but it will still end up being quite big.) I also have some plans to include the top canopy as a lighted plasma sculpture, but only after I make the pool and the nymphs first.

Sculpting a Long Porcelain Pool