Cardboard toy inspired ceramic slab rabbit

Inspired by the cardboard Eugy toys I see scattered around art and toy shops, I wanted to mimic the same method used to make the toys but with clay slabs.

There’s two issues doing this: cardboard is lightweight and can just be glued together, but stacking clay slabs will get unwieldy quickly. I’d need to find a way to hollow it out. Secondly, trying to actually work out and design simple shapes that can be stacked into a thing - without copying Eugy’s designs - is more difficult than I thought.

Also, I’m not sure at this point what purpose such a method of building would be besides aesthetic. I think it might be good for a sort of shelving design, but I wouldn’t know how that would fit into my current practice, either. Most of the appeal of Eugy and Lego toys comes from actually making it, so I need to think of how the design of the object relates to its function.

To start, I drew some side, front, and 3/4 rabbit drawings in a pose I like to roughly figure out what each slab will look like.

As I started cutting and stacking the pattern I made, I started to realize the piece was becoming far too big. I tried hollowing out the slabs, but realized some slabs needed to be solid, and I needed to plan it on paper longer outside the studio.

This is what the mess was looking like, by the time I finished a smaller model. I've been learning to throw cups and bowls on my own better, though it's not a big part of my academic practice.