Creating Foxy David #2

The Tombstone of “Foxy David” #1

I sold “Foxy David #1”!

Now, I’m in a situation, I need a “Foxy David” in my body of work. I need him for several reasons, mostly for the story around how I came to create him in the first place. But I’d like to leave that right now and go on to the fact that I must make a second one so I have him for when I have the privilege of showing my work again.

The first thing we need to make is the tomb-stone upon which he is sitting. In actuality David was on the roof of his beautiful home, build by a friendly neighbouring king so as to escape being attacked by David’s army. Smart king that was. It was a great deal for both of them. King David got a beautiful home made out of the “Ceders of Lebanon” and the neighbour saved his kingdom. In reality, of course we know he was not actually sitting on a tombstone. It is symbolic of the resulting tragic deaths resulting from his actions beginning with what he saw from the roof of his house that day.

It is important that the tombstone is the first item we make for this piece as it needs to become dry enough to bear the weight of the second piece, namely the figure of David sitting on it so that we might then finish the details of the piece.

The first thing we do is prepare the clay to go through the slab roller. This is a handy device where one can adjust the thickness of the clay slab desired, place the clay in the fold of a canvas sheet and put it through between the rollers. And bingo you have a smooth uniform slab, exactly the width you need. (This thing reminds me of the old wringer-dryers of my youth.) Now you simply cut out the pieces you need for the sculpture. As you see in the photos, I placed a piece of “saran-wrap” on the board and put the tombstone together on that. This way the clay will not stick to the wooden board and so when it dries it can freely shrink without cracking. It also facilitates easily moving it around if necessary. (The amazing things you learn with a little experience!)

The last photo shows the tombstone finished, and the tools I used in the process. What gets a little tricky is the fact that it is not square. You can see that the top is narrower than the base and so the two end pieces must be cut accordingly. Then, you can also see that the centre of the sides are higher, meaning the top piece will not be a straight rectangle as the centre section will be narrower due to this rise of the sides in the centre. (What a sentence!) So, to make it simple I laid a larger slab over the top of the whole piece and traced the edge lines from underneath. That way it fit perfectly without any fussy measuring necessary.

I have now set it aside to dry. Meanwhile, we will begin on the foxy guy who will sit on this tomb-stone.

"The King asked, “What is that tombstone I see?””

2 Kings 23:17