'Where d'ya get that nose? Did ya pick it yourself?'

Well, I promised the putti a new nose and yesterday set about making it. The slide show shows the process - which will interest the technically minded perhaps. I set to with Plasticine for a mould, PVA adhesive let down with water to bond the old and new surfaces, Plaster of Paris to fill the mould and some little rasps to file away with. I also found I needed a load of patience - it was one of those jobs where you find your tongue sticking out with the effort of concentrating. Skill, practise and experience would have been handy too but we can all muddle along.....

His face is restored. It's OK. I have a new-found admiration for sculptors, especially those carving in marble, stone and wood. What vision, what skill to take a solid block and reveal the inner form. Once those chips of marble have been chiseled away they can't be replaced - building a form up in clay must be an easier process. (Indeed this little putti would have originally been created like that and then cast in bronze.)

I do quite fancy sculpting something.....saw a life-size sheep the other day 'crafted' from plastic carrier bags and it did (fleetingly) go through my mind that there was a huge and untapped resource right here in my own kitchen.....fortunately the moment passed and I went shopping instead.

I shall be sticking to 'broken legs' for Young Farmers for the time being.

But remember: Verrochio. Respec' innit.