Laying Spotty Dog

 It all began with a big tub of plasticine. As a child Virginia would happily spend hours modelling this clay-like material into all sorts of creatures, but especially dogs. She loves that she still gets to play with clay every day.

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​​​She has been sculpting her ceramics professionally for almost 30 years since graduating from the University of Wolverhampton with a BA Honours in Ceramics.

Virginia’s dogs begin as hollow extruded tubes of clay.

From these she cuts and forms their body, legs and their head, which she says is always fun as the positioning of an eyebrow or the dog’s ears gives them their unique characters and personalities.

Using various props to support each dog, they are left in her studio for over a week until they are completely dry and ready for the kiln.

Where the clay is joined she leaves a torn or cut edge, which she hopes shows how she is using clay.

She tends to let the clay and the extruder inspire what the end dog will look like. For example, the clay tube may curl as she extrudes it, which she will then use for the neck of a sitting dog, which is looking down.

Once dried, She raw glazes their eyes and noses before firing them to low stoneware temperature. They are then smoke-fired in a small, lidded incinerator, which is packed with combustibles like sawdust and paper, and left to burn down overnight.

The spotty and patchy dogs that she creates are the result of masking areas where she doesn't want the smoke to go.

Virginia enjoys the very natural and often unexpected tones that are achieved using this method. Each dog is completely unique as a result of this process.