Wee Stella and Wee Harvey (b.30 January 2010)

I've had lots of requests for wee horse commissions after a few of my early creations appeared on the TrotOnline forum. The word has spread, and so I was delighted when Kathy got in touch with me at the end of January asking if I could create a Wee Stella to commemorate her chestnut mare who she lost before Christmas. She also wanted a Wee Harvey for her friend.

It's always so helpful not only to have photographs of the horses, but also some extra information about them. Kathy describes Stella (aka Belladonna) as "a grumpy, cantankerous but immensely loveable old chestnut mare"! She was a marmite horse - you loved her or you hated her, and it was clear from the pictures Kathy sent me that this was a horse that had lots of character, and then some.

Stella had a flyaway forelock and a mane that wouldn't lie on the right side. So I felt it was important to imcorporate these features when making up Wee Stella. Up until now, I had always put the mane on both sides of the neck and body, but because Stella's mane was so contrary, once I made up the basic shape, I built up the mane so that it lay on the right hand side. This involved blending in a little extra piece of clay between the head and the body, and in order to capture the right effect, I laid the mane over to the right and then 'combed' it over to the left. For her forelock, I placed some shortish pieces of extruded clay and then 'fluffed' it up using a scalpel.

Harvey was a very interested horse to make. You can see that he's got amazingly hairy feet, and some of the action shots Kathy sent me showed how very much they were integral to his personality! He also has a wonderfully long mane and tail, and we agreed that it was important to have these flowing freely (he often has it tied up to stop it getting into his eyes).

For his feet, I cut the usual circle of clay and then cut a small strip of white clay to wrap round the circle to act as a 'skirt'. To make sure this strip flared out at the bottom, I coiled three strands of extruded clay around the circle, which provided some additional padding. I did try to put small strands of extruded clay around the hooves, but this looked a bit strange. So instead, I 'fluffed up' the white skirt of clay with a scalpel, and that gave the impression of hair.

I love these two wee horses - I feel that my technique has advanced that much more as a result, and I'm delighted with the way they turned out. Kathy loves them too, as does her friend Laura, who owns Harvey. This is such fun work to do!

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