Kelly Chan

Amphibian High-Style: A Frog in a Heel

Acrylic paint, oven baked clay, air dry clay, wires, tin foil, a high heel, rocks, fake flowers, stained cotton, cardboard, clear nail polish, hot glue, colored yarn, plastic pearl beads, marbles, gold plastic stickers, jewelries

This piece combines fantasy and fashion to create a playful, story-like sculpture. A frog lounges on a high heel decorated with gold chains and jewels, while the front of the heel transforms into a dragon's head. Together, they suggest a mischievous scene — tiny treasure thieves in a magical world.
The sparkling gems and gold details create a sense of luxury and fantasy. I wanted the materials to catch the viewer's eye and make the shoe feel like part of a dragon's treasure hoard.

One of the biggest challenges was building the dragon head. Since the shoe couldn't go in the oven, I sculpted the head separately, baked it, then attached and blended it with air-dry clay.

This project pushed me to solve structural problems while adding more detailed sculpting and color blending than I had used before.