Ceramic Aquarium Decoration
Dimensions: about 12 cm x 9.5cm x 13 cm
It's the little stone hut from the main page! Actually, the drawing on the main page, the one where the door opens when you hover over it with the cursor, was taken from the concept drawing for this sculpture. After my wife and I moved into our current place, I was thrilled that I would once again be able to have my big 45 gallon aquarium set up again. Aquarium plants are a big deal to me! We got on the topic of cheesy aquarium decor, and I we decided that if we would have something as tacky as an aquarium castle then we had to go all out and really revel in the kitch of it. We searched all over the internet for something that would satisfy us, and decided that we would have to produce something ourselves. Fortunately, I would need clay to make the mineralized top soil that I would use in the aquarium anyway, so the opportunity was there for some sculpting fun. I hadn't worked with clay since junior high, so I was stoked.
I iterated over a few different ideas, from ruined castles to tudor style homes, but we eventually landed on the idea of this little wizard hut that would be nestled within the aquarium flora for this deep dark wood story book feeling. A drawing from different angles is always helpful for keeping the scultural work cohesive. I liked this concept drawing, and it ended up getting used for some practice with Blender sculpting and placeholder textures in Unity projects.
I did the concept drawing like six months before I got around to actually scultping.
Roughing out the structure. I don't know where the little wooden palatte originally came from, but it was awesome for handling the piece throughout sculpting.
I kept the clay a consistent thickness my supporting the rolling pin between some scraps of cardboard piled up on either end.
Next I roughed out the arched roof. By the end I had removed a lot of material from it smoothing it out.
Adding some detail for the arched door and big round window at the back.
More detail work on the door, and adding in the timber beams.
Adding in the stone work. I cut individual pieces out of rolled clay, and shaped them a bit before and after adding them to the structure with some scoring and slip.
Lots more stone work, tile details on the roof, and brick lines on the walls.
Roof and details on the tower. I scored the some wood grain into the timber bits.
The tower roof cracked a little when it dried, and I wish I had taked a bit more time to get it perfect. I feel like it's shoddiness detracts from the rest of the sculpture, which I was otherwise really happy with.
All done and ready to be dried and fired. My sister in law is a high school art teacher, so I got her to pop it into the kiln for me.
This doesn't yet live in my aquarium, and I'm not sure if I'm going to give up planting space for it. I also haven't decided if I'll glaze it at all, or if I should just let anubias and moss grow over it.
I'm really pleased with how well this turned out considering I hadn't touched clay since I was like fourteen. I am planning more ceramic projects since I enjoyed this so much.