Magic

When I was little, about 7 years old, I garbage picked looking for toys.  We lived with my maternal grandmother in a house on the corner of an alley.  I never really found much.  Then, one day, I opened the lid of a garbage can two houses from ours and found a brand new box of magic tricks.  It was like Christmas.  I’ll never forget it.  From time to time, there were more new toys and I always had the same reaction--eyes wide, mouth open; pure wonder.  It was years later I found out that Mr. and Mrs. Hall did not have children.  The new toys were for me.

I googled 1954 toys, newspapers and toy ads, reduced them to fit my matchbook and garbage can.  I googled 1954 playing cards, reduced them to fit inside her pockets, on her hair and in the box of magic tricks.  I sculpted the figure, rabbit in the hat and the garbage can from polymer clay.  Her eyes are beads and she wears glued on doll hair.

I loved Leslie Blackford's sculpting workshop at Clay Carnival.  I learned a lot, laughed a lot and "remembered" a lot.  And that's how my rabbit in the hat, my "something personal" fit into my sculpture.  Click HERE for Leslie's workshop description.