Antelope (b.4 January 2010)

Never thought I'd be doing an Antelope, let alone an Antelope with glasses, but here he is! Commissioned by a good friend of mine for her other half (who is the best boyfriend in the world), I wasn't entirely sure how he would turn out, so I decided to give my brain a rest and let my hands figure it out.

I knew I would follow broadly the same shape as the Wee Horses, etc, but beyond that, I didn't have a clue. I started with the antlers (horns?) and cut two short lengths of 1.2mm silver plated wire which I covered with thin strips of striped black and white clay, leaving a short length of wire to embed into the head.  Next, I worked on the colour for the body and head, and made up a Skinner blend of reddish-brown and tan. Once these colours were nicely blended, I squished the resultant sheet into a plug, and then began to shape the body. Somehow a rounded body didn't feel right, particularly as antelopes are so long-legged and graceful.  So I made a tear-drop shape with the reddish brown on top, fading to tan for the legs. This shape felt intuitively right, and also allowed for a more elongated head. 

The head took a bit of thought, particularly with regard to the markings. I hadn't realised there were so many different types of antelopes in the world, so I decided to go for a generic antelope 'look' (if there is such a thing) with a white stripe down the nose and across the eyes. I used 4mm black onyx beads for the eyes and spaced them quite far apart.  Antelope ears are quite large, and I lined these with a scrap of white clay.

Next I embedded the antlers by applying liquid polymer clay to the metal ends and pressing them firmly into the head, and I finished off the look with a white tail and a thin disc of black clay for the hoofs.

Antelope stands 4.5cm to the tip of his antlers, and measures 3cm from ear to ear. The stylised look works well for this Wild Beastie, and I've got some ideas about making more in the Wild Beastie range - elephants and hippos will be next up!

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