In moving to Volterra, I knew the area was known for the alabaster craft – What I did not know, was how much it truly affected the whole area and how it truly is a vital part of the community and how it functions. Everywhere you go you see alabaster in the shops, workshops and artisans – and most if not all quite successful in their craft. The alabaster craft has been a part of Volterra since the Etruscan times – They made sculptures and urns out of the rock. It has shaped the culture here, like the alabaster craft festival that happened a few weeks ago. The artists are celebrated and this is such a pleasant change from Windsor.

In terms of working with the alabaster, I love it. Sculpture is one of my favourite things to do and alabaster has been very rewarding for me. I like working on something that is very labour intensive – it makes it more worth while to me. I wanted to challenge myself at least a little on this sculpture, which is why i chose to do a human figure. I had never sculpted a human figure before. Although it is not detailed getting the shape down was still taxing and it took a lot of time and a lot of work. There were definitely difficulties along the way. Using the chisel tool took a lot of getting used to, and at first was rather painful. There are many small tight spaces in my sculpture, and trying to finish off those parts was very hard. Its frustrating knowing what you have to do but not being able to do it