Jane Burden Morris In Ceramic (again!)

I'm doing another Jane, fixing the defects I found in her previous ceramic incarnation. She's much better now, and I have started the fine finish. I worked a bit more on the eyes as I found them a teensy bit too deep-set, I brought them out about 1 mm. Small changes make big differences in portraiture! I also evened out the nostrils, the hair and eyebrows.

Jane Burden Morris, Still Needs Work!

She cracked, but I'll make another copy, as I have a mold. Below are the photographs of my prototype:













I have found a photo of her and I digitally superposed this image to my 3D version in order to increase her likeness in my next version.







I need to move the eyes a bit, lower an eyebrow, make the mouth smaller and lower. With the help of Photoshop. I can see what these corrections might look like, and decide whether I should alter the prototype in that direction, or even further in that diretion:



PLEASE COMMENT! Should I make the corrections or not? Below is the current version on the left, and the mock "Photoshop" changes I would make on the right.

Jane is in the kiln! Jane is in the kiln!

My bust of Jane Burden Morris is being fired in the kiln right now. A chunk that cracked off, and was repaired painstakingly, apparently went into the kiln without re-cracking. This does not mean it will no crack again in the firing! I'm keeping my fingers crossed really tightly.

That's why I'm happy I went though the trouble of making a mold. Whatever happens to this particular ceramic embodiment of Jane, I can make another version in a faithful likeness - all I need is another bag of clay. Working from a large and complex rubber mold remains a technical challenge (I had to try three times to perfect the technique). I may be re-inventing the wheel as usual, but I haven't heard of other ceramicists using rubber molds, the standard molding technique being slip-casting in plaster.