I was contacted recently by a client who had a beautiful sketch of a fox cub and she wanted to commissioned me to bring it to life in sculpture. The fox cub sketch was only one view so using my background knowledge of foxes plus a lot of research I set about creating Fox Trot.
I needed to adapt the trotting pose so it would work in 3D and in ceramic. Kiln props were used to hold the position until the legs were strong enough to take the body weight. Once the fox cub sculpture was finished, matt slips were applied for colour.
After the fox cub sculpture had gone through the firings, Delabole slate was used as a mount.
I visited the Delabole Quarry in Cornwall to select suitable slate plinths, which I choose for their size, thickness and colour. I think the colours in the Delabole slate complimented the fox cub sculpture very well. On receiving the fox cub sculpture, my client exclaimed it’s ‘Fox-trotting-tastic!’