Horses recently made, drying and waiting for the bisque.

Each horse starts out from a lump of paper clay. This is a custom made clay with paper fibers mixed in with the clay in order for the clay to stick to the legs and for the horses to be stronger in their unfinished state.

Once the clay is hard enough to sculpt, I begin by making the body of the horse. Once the hollow body is rough shaped, the legs are added in. Some of the horses have nails or bolts as legs, and other have pre-fired clay "nails" for their legs. I do not decide which is the front and which is the back end until the legs are on and the horse begins to grow.

From there, I start to add muscle groups and leg joints. Once there is a rough body, I add on the head and neck. I continue to develop the muscles and conformation of the horse as I go, checking to see the sides all work well together. When the horse is almost complete I add on a tail.

It is small tweaking that goes on to perfect the horse in its stance. Once complete, it must dry for several days before being bisque fired. After the bisque (to remove the water from the clay and make the horse durable) it is on to glazing and the firing process.