The Not So Common Snail

 My friend Helena, is a dedicated gardener, beekeeper and and a wonderful woman who has spent a lifetime creating beautiful spaces. Every Christmas she decorates her house with a collection of whimsical trees and ornaments, collected over many years  and a combination of family treasures, handmade and vintage adorn the most magnificently themed Christmas trees. 

One of her trees is dedicated to all things garden.  These giant snail sculptures are ornaments for her garden tree. 

Each snail is about ten centimetres in length. The bodies are made with air dry clay moulded over a scrunched foil slug shape and then painted with acrylic.

The shells were made with the last pieces of African fabrics from my stash. The simple shapes were lightly stuffed and rolled up, stitched to hold the structure together and then stitched onto and around the body. Once finished the snails got a coat of Estapol (polyurethane) to seal the acrylic paint and make them shiny and a hanging ribbon.