| Figurines are small pieces of sculpture that don't | | | | or theme. It wouldn't do to have a languorous |
| require an entire room to do them justice. A | | | | reclining nymph next to the clown statuette. We |
| whatnot will hold one exquisite bone china figurine | | | | discover our own sense of order when we |
| or an entire collection, painted and glazed just so | | | | arrange figurines. |
| to reach a lifelike appearance. Perhaps an early | | | | If you want to truly add to your knowledge of |
| childhood memory stirs when you have your own | | | | figurines, you will want to learn about different |
| figurine collection, because you remember your | | | | sorts of clays and firing techniques, similar to |
| family's shelves filled with small fragile shapes that | | | | acquiring the techniques of throwing a clay pot |
| you 'couldn't touch!' At that time of your | | | | and preparing it for the kiln. This knowledge can |
| development, you could see the bright colors of a | | | | add to your enjoyment of your collection, nearly |
| clown figurine and naturally wanted to finger his | | | | as much as learning about the famous styling |
| scintillating costume. Now that you're older, you | | | | houses for figurines, such as Royal Doulton, Lladro |
| appreciate the delicacy of a figurine's | | | | and Hummel. Each season, the designers for |
| craftsmanship and can be trusted to 'touch' and | | | | figurines bring forth their offerings of poses and |
| hold your own bits of glazed or forged wonders | | | | characters, worked in bone china or porcelain or |
| as you savor your own collection. | | | | bisque. |
| When your artistic taste developed, you | | | | How the figurine has its color decoration applied |
| discovered that china was not the only medium | | | | translates to a more refined knowledge of the |
| for figurine art. There were patinas to be enjoyed | | | | crafting of these delicate little pieces of art. For |
| on brass pieces and hand-carved wooden | | | | instance, cobalt and copper may be applied under |
| statuettes, along with other shapes, figurative or | | | | the glaze on a figurine, or enamels used once the |
| abstract. The one thing that they all have in | | | | glazing is complete. Celadon ware contains an iron |
| common is their small scale, representative of the | | | | in its glaze to give it its distinctive look. And if you |
| subject in a miniature form. Figurines claim our | | | | desire the elegant look of porcelain, know that |
| imagination almost in the way of dolls or stuffed | | | | porcelain is fired at a higher degree than |
| animals, tinier forms of humans or creatures that | | | | earthenware to make the body of the piece |
| we can place in a tableau whichever way we like. | | | | non-porous. Firing also imputes a greater sheen to |
| We can make them off-center on the knickknack | | | | the finished piece, as vitrification occurs at the |
| shelf, we can perch them on its edge, we can | | | | high temperature and the outer glaze turns to a |
| shift their scales from extremely miniature to a | | | | glassy shine. When you consider the fine |
| hand's span all the way up to a fairly large | | | | craftsmanship which goes into turning out an |
| one-foot dimension. The one thing that we cannot | | | | exquisite figurine, you will treasure your collection |
| do is ignore them when they are in a room, | | | | even more. It shows off your personality like |
| because of their eye-catching quality. We feel the | | | | nothing else does. |
| need to arrange them according to scale, or color, | | | | |