Progress on mother courage is going reasonably well.  I have finished  ‘six babies’ which fit snugly into her wings – currently lined with plastic – to stop the new wet clay from seeping through into the dry clay (hopefully).  I think most of the coconut fibre texture which is packed around the babies and their heads will burn out in firing.  To replicate this I think I will be able to make a slip from ‘air-hardening clay’ and more coconut fibre and just top it up to finish off the piece.  After firing I will probably finish with a mixture of ceramic stain and acrylic paint.  Time will tell 🙂