Gina pigs, moles, dragons,cats, badgers, swans, duck, butterflys, stegosaurus, dogs, lizards, penguins, hedgehogs, crocodiles, dolphins, turtles, owls, rabbits, bears, bees, fish, sheep, monkeys, horses, mice, ladybirds, pigs, squirrel, elephant, starfish and seahorse!
"Looks to me Carly, like you don't have any problems with miniatures, so what's with the title?"
As I have mentioned a lot on previous posts, I have have Chronic fatigue syndrome and Fibro myalgia. This means that my arms and hands are always in pain at varying degrees and they are often shaking and weak.
Others may just take days like this off and I did, but after 14 years off ill, the plan is to find ways to do a little most days (around 10 hours a week in all, if I can). It took a year of trying other jobs and I have been a professional sculptor for a year. So 16 years disabled.
I work from my bed, but I often have to use pillows to support my arms while I work laying flat. Luckily, my bed is 2 single mattresses pushed together. This is far bigger than a king size double bed. I often have all my Husband's and my pillows and duvet almost like a cloth outline of support.
Even with all this, I find that there are only some things that I can manage. I am often having to move misplaced components and fixingdamage caused by my shaking.
The other issue that I have that really affects my abilities to do miniature work, is the fact my left eye wanders off. The tendon that holds your iris where you want it, is very loose. This means that it often goes to the left hand corner.
I have had this all my life. My brain compensates by using my right eye, but this causes me a lot of depth perception issues. Dyslexia (also got this) has hand eye coordination issues and the brain fog of the CFS, all mix and cause an obstacle for my brain in giving me accurate sensory information.
Luckily for me, clay is extremely forgiving. While raw, it is so easy to change. You can pull it all over the place, constantly fiddling. If it gets too warm, then it can go sticky, but you either blot it on some paper or just whack it in the fridge for a few minutes (I do the latter).
Once the clay has been baked, it is actually really easy to carve. You can actually cut it with a craft knife. You can also sand it to remove blemishes.
I see all of this as a obstacle rather than a barrier, but I have to be realistic. This is why I will not promise to make anything smaller than 3cm.
I know that there are many elements of the items I have made for the shop, that are smaller than 3cm.
The difference is that if I agree that I will make things that small on commission, then if it turns out that it is one of the many things that I can't make in miniature, then I have broken my promise. I want to be trustworthy and customer focused, so I have to make this rule.
There are tons of amazing artists who create incredible miniatures, so the market will not miss me.
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