Alebrije Project

Planning Paper for my Alebrije

Planning for the Project

I knew before starting this project that the task of hollowing out such a large piece might affect the stability and shape of the Alebrije. To combat this, I planned out the points where I wanted to hollow out so I could reinforce surrounding areas. The planning also allowed me to create a design for the Alebrije, which is a major part of what creates the fever-dream-like animals that are Alebrijes.

Process of making the Piece

My initial attempts to make my Alebrije showed some major problems that I had to overcome. The first of which was the scale of the piece, as I struggled with making the head and body proportionate, and making the whole piece big enough to manage, and also be sufficient.

As I became more intentional with the scale of the piece, I had to face the task of hollowing out the Alebrije. The main worry I had while doing so was sacrificing the structure of the piece and having the main body warp inwards on itself as I hollowed it out. Thankfully, I ended up letting the piece dry out partly, so the clay kept a bit more rigidity. This did make the task of removing clay with a tool a bit harder, but also let the Alebrije keep its structure better.

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