'Graveyard Shift' in Whiteware

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Last week, Art of Disney announced a merchandise event to help celebrate the resort’s 40th anniversary to be held at the Contemporary Resort on Friday, September 30th from 9:00am-9:00pm.

For the event, one of the Special Merchandise items being offered is the Caretaker and Dog (pictured at right) from the Walt Disney Classics Collection sculpted by Ruben Procopio, a Numbered Limited Edition of 250.  Special Note: Room for 1 More event will have a limited number of the Graveyard Shift edition.

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Part of the process in  creating memorable Walt Disney Classics Collection sculptures is creating whiteware. 

The final clay sculpt is cut into pieces and a plaster mold of each piece is made. The more complex and delicate the sculpture, the more pieces are needed.

Liquid clay called 'slip' is poured into the molds and partially air dried into 'greenware' pieces, which are then re-assembled using more slip. The greenware is sprayed with a translucent glaze and fired in a brick kiln, creating a glazed whiteware. The whiteware is then painted with a yellow dye to pick up any flaws within the whiteware.

This spectacularly detailed sculpture, requiring 98 individual molds for each piece, is crafted of fine porcelain, and is hand-painted and fired 6 times in the kiln.  

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Plussed with 2 hand-cast bronze horizontal fence rails and 77 individual pewter elements including pewter legs, tail and ears on the dog, 10 vertical pewter fence posts, pewter shovel, pewter lantern handle, 58 pewter leaves and branches.

The sculpture stands 10” tall by 11-1/2” wide by 9-1/2” deep and includes a Certificate of Authenticity with the imprinted signatures of Disney Creative Director and Master Artist David Pacheco and Disney Archives Director Becky Klein.

Please Note: The Whiteware image is not for sale. These images are being provided to show the plussing detail mentioned above.