In the final stages of sculpting the porcelain nymphs, I added the lower legs and feet, arms and hands, and the last details of the face like the eyes. I save these parts for last because they are the most fragile and easily damaged by handling, so after these parts are added I have to be extra careful with the whole sculpture. Also, the little details of the gestures with hands and face can completely alter the entire look or “character” of the sculpture, so I like to wait until the end to get those parts just right. On such a small scale, it isn’t necessary to go full realistic detail, but just enough to suggest fingers, the shape of the hand, etc. At this stage, I have to be very delicate, because I am shaping a tiny hand the size of my fingernail:

I saved the second arm for last, because this is the most difficult and fragile part. I made a wire embedded through the inside of the arm, which runs down into the hollow space inside the torso. The purpose of the wire is to support an object that this nymph will be holding, and because the object is pretty large in relation to her body, I needed some way to stabilize it so that one of the tiny hands will not bear the entire weight. If this works as planned, the wire will run though the center of the object she holds, and stabilize the weight by anchoring inside the body.

This is a high-temp wire, so it will withstand the firing, but the issue is that the clay will shrink around the wire, while the wire does not shrink. Therefore the wire can’t be simply embedded in the clay, or it will cause cracking. Until now I temporarily stuck some clay to the wire to keep it in place, but then I went back and widened the opening where the wire comes out. I made a wider space for the wire to “thread” through, so it doesn’t touch the clay, and doesn’t cause the arm to crack.

Right now, it’s extremely fragile, but after firing, the porcelain will become very strong, with the arm held out in front holding the object.

Here’s a video of the last part, attaching a hollow arm with extra space for the wire to run through:

Finally, I painted liquid wax on the clay to help it dry evenly, and now they are left to dry for a long time. Did I mention I was making two duplicate sculptures? Because sometimes the results can be unpredictable in the kiln, this is to make sure that at least one of them turns out the way I want.