This piece was inspired by the elusive and aggressive white whale in the infamous novel Moby Dick, by Hermann Melville. The process involved drawing out where the bulk of the armature needed to be, considering that the fluke would weigh considerably more and create an overall unbalanced piece. A lack of balance would then not allow the tail to sit in its intended position: upright, giving the perception of a whale diving into the water. It took a second attempt of creating an armature and tail in order to get the proportions more accurate between the body and fluke. Below are more pictures of the tail at different angles, along with a sketch of where the wire and connecting points of the armature would be located. Through this project I learned that sometimes the weight of clay is a lot heavier than one might think. This project allowed me to push the boundaries of balance through utilizing an armature. It also allowed me to hone my finer motor skills by continuously smoothing clay in hopes that it would represent whale skin.