Finding a new home for "Dandy"

So there's this nifty site for selling the sort of work that I do called Auction Barn. After hearing many great things about this site as an alternative to eBay I decided to give it a try. I have to say I've been impressed with how easy the site is to use! Kudos to site owners Shallon and Brian!

I was able to find my way through the process of posting an auction with only a little misstep or two, both of which were operator errors on my part and easily fixed.

Now "Dandy" is officially looking for a new home via an Auction Barn auction!

If you'd like to see more photos of "Dandy", there are four pages of photos at laf'nbear.com, just click on the first big picture you see of him to get to the other pages.

Born on the Fourth of July!

Meet "Dandy"!!

As in Yankee Doodle Dandy, for he was born on the Fourth of July.

He went into the kiln late on July 3 for his final firing, and the kiln kicked off early on Independence Day.

By noon I was able to peek in to see how things had gone -- very well indeed as it turns out!

It actually did take seven firings to get this piece's color and glaze texture where I wanted it. This is a matte glaze, which I still find to be a bit of a challenge to get right.

When matte glaze is applied too heavily you end up with an opaque milky white finish. Not good.

To avoid this, I apply the glaze in thin layers -- you can always add more, but you can never take it away after it's been fired!


He's not completely matte however. His hooves and shoes are bright and shiny, his eyes sparkle and his nostrils have a hint of moisture to them.

This was a fun piece to work on! That swishy tail and swingy walk presented opportunities to play with shading to accent his movement.

Bright white is not my favorite color on a horse. Thus, Dandy's white areas have warm and cool tones; shadow and highlight. Multi-layered dapples give his "coat" depth and realism. Close inspection will reveal that even the direction of hair growth is subtly indicated.

There will soon be more pictures of him at lafnbear.com I just roughed in four new pages of pictures. They will be fine tuned and uploaded Monday morning.

Then we'll have to see about finding a good home for Mr. Dandy!