In this newsletter, John Bromley talks about his latest creation, "Champagne Ball" and lets us into the thoughts behind her. You can also be the first to see the lovely sketch showing his original inspiration.

Like all great sculptors, until John gets a clear picture in his mind of who she is and where she is, he cannot go ahead with the modelling. Once these thoughts have crystallized, he can think about the pose and what she is wearing and how the dress will move.

Here's what he says about her -


"I wanted this figure to be different ( I say that about every figure I design.) but "Champagne Ball" was going to be very different!

I imagined her at a fabulous party, a Grand Ball. The moment is when she steps outside, into the warm air of a late summer evening, a glass of champagne in her hand. I could picture her there quite clearly, looking beautiful against the setting sun, soft breezes gently billowing the silky drapes of her dress.

After establishing the romantic setting, I decided her dress should flow, swirling and twisting in the breeze, forming beautiful sculptural shapes. This would prove to be a great challenge, not only from the sculpting point of view, but also working out how it could be best moulded. So there was a great deal of thought given to make it technically possible and ready for production.

I thought that she would be the Belle of the Ball. I hope you agree.

It just leaves me now to decide what colour she would look best in, a colour that will enhance her beauty! This is no simple task. My original watercolour trials need to be reproduced in ceramic colours. I know that it will not be right first time. Everything changes in the kiln when it is fired to such a high temperature. Even when the basic colour scheme is decided, there is all the extra decoration to decide such as any pattern on her dress and whether or not to have a necklace etc. Still, this is such an exciting time, waiting to see how the final figurine turns out"























Best regards,

PS. As the colour scheme develops, we will feature it on the web site, so keep looking to see the final results. (Check out the new look website anyway. We have given it a makeover and it would be good to know what you think.)

www.figurinecollect.com

Best regards

Peter Holland, Ceramic Sculptor www.figurinecollect.com (These pages show our new English made bone china figurine collection)
www.figurines-sculpture.com (This is my bigger site covering all aspects of fine china making)

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