Good morning! and a beautiful day too this Tuesday.  Sunshine here and the washing is hung out to dry.  A day for being inspired by Spring!

I love this time of year when spring flowers are out and the leaves are budding, a time for intense bird song too.  Its been a massive transition time for me at the moment, I've moved house and area, back to where I feel comfortable, back home and its been a good move.  Plenty of beauty around me, plenty of wonderful birdsong  from the woody, shrubby gardens around my home and it makes my heart sing!  Its making the creative juices flow better for me, in fact I am just IN THE FLOW! I thought I'd post below the beginnings of a silver goose that I started some time ago but never finished.  I start all my sculptures by making them by hand, first out of a material called wood chip clay powder.  They are allowed to dry, and then I start to cover them layer by layer with fine silver clay in paste form.  The silver clay I use is 99% silver, the remaining percent being a very fine clay binder.  This can take a while and a lot of patience.  The sculpture has to be fully dry before applying another layer.  It is then fired in a kiln.  This particular goose is quite large and will probably become an ornament standing on a base but I'm looking forward to getting on with making him into a fine, shiny and handsome silver bird.