Hope Rose sculpture

Hi Everyone,

Here’s a rose flower clay sculpture that I made today.  I made it for my therapist’s office (I’ve been having counseling for a phobia).  I’ve offered to do trade with him and he’s considering it.  So if he decides not to, then I can always sell this or give it away as a gift (most often I give them away ). 

This is the largest rose I think that I’ve ever made.  It doesn’t look so big in the photos but it’s 8 inches across. (It will shrink in the drying and firing process).  I picked some of the flowers in my rose garden for inspiration in making the rose.  The yellow peace (Chicago Peace) rose is so beautiful.  I could have written “Peace” on the sculpture base and this would have been just as good.  Instead, I chose “Hope” because that’s what I think of when I look at the rose.  

Symbolism of the rectangle base gives me the feeling of being boxed in but then the rose is growing up out of that. Hope exists and is blooming with the biggest rose I’ve ever seen or made. It’s a simple design with no leaves but just the rose and the plain words “Hope.” I’ll probably inscribe the words a little bit more deeply and cleanly after it gets leather hard.

Rose sculpture with rectangle base.

I might add a bit of clay in some of those crevices on the backside. Other than that the sculpture is finished and will need to dry slowly so that cracks or warping won’t happen. I’ll glaze the flower and leave the base unglazed.

Thanks for viewing the pics. I hope that others will feel more open about sharing that they have phobias or anxieties. These things are very common but so many of us want to hide them and not let others know. So for me to share this is an improvement and I hope that it helps someone else. We all have something that we’re dealing with and I think of my anxiety as an illness just as someone else may have a physical impairment. I hope that you have a peaceful and happy day.

~Tamara