Although the Nature boy began as just a small idea in my head, he really came to life as a human/tree creature. I began the process by constructing a normal bust. I made a head, face, neck, and shoulders. The left side was to be left unmarred and the right side was to be textured and sculpted to emulate a tree. The right shoulder was enhanced by adding root like branches on top of the preexisting shoulder. I then pressed real bark from outside into the bust in order to get the desired textures. During the first firing, the shoulder blew off. I was not sure how to handle this challenge so I first glazed the "human side" a skin tone hue and the "nature side" an imperfect looking brown. When the bust came out of the glaze firing, I knew it needed more real nature elements. I added moss as hair and built the bust a new shoulder out of real bark. This piece is symbolic of the relationship between man and nature. Nature being the all powerful force that quite literally holds up the heads (and the large egos) of humans. The tree is portrayed as calm and serene as it has not been marred by humans, but rather, peacefully coexists with them.