Ah, no wonder it looked so full and wonderful. Well, it still looks great after firing while there is a noticeable hardness now. The only way to retain that fullness is to cast a water based clay piece and take the mold while the clay is still wet (leather hard).
Children are the most difficult - their features are all hidden beneath layers of baby fat with only a few indications of bony structure. You have nailed it though no doubt due to years of keen observation in your painting practices.
About clays - just because it is a cone 6 or 10 clay doesn't mean you have to fire it to that temperature. I use cone 5 or 10 clays and rarely ever go over cone 02. I usually fire them nearly solid to cone 06 so you are right on. That is plenty hot for vitrification and the piece will only shrink about 5%. Also, any patina that you apply to a piece that has not been fired to maturity will adhere much better.
I love the lighting of your original photograph. What are you using for a backdrop? I know I need to find a good photography background as I have been using sheets and then smudging out any wrinkles in Photoshop that are noticeable in the final photos (can you say big waste of time there?) The grayscale is also very effective in showing off the forms.
You'll have to let me know how you like the Nikon D70. I've been wanting to buy a nice digital camera for quite some time now to upgrade from my old 2 megapixel. I was thinking about the new Nikon Coolpix 8700 would probably be plenty of camera for my needs. I can see where a painter would need to be more concerned about color quality.
Anyway, you came to the right place for boat loads of good information and you obviously have a lot to contribute yourself. Hope to see lots of your work here.
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