I know they’re pretty ropey, but I have a very soft spot in my heart for my little latex puppet buddies Meat Head, Robbie Redcap, Mandroid and Jenny Greenteeth, and I feel compelled to add another to the ranks, even though it’s really hard to get right and uses a lot of resources.

I have always wanted to make something connected with the Makapansgat stone, a prehistoric rock that resembles a face and which was collected by some pre human ancestor a few million years ago for some reason. Did they think it was a god or a spirit or just a freaky little friend? Perhaps the pebble-being chose to be found.

I feel like if there’s a spiritual ancestor to the Cabinet of Monsters, it’s whoever it was that first saw that stone and decided it was worthy of a place in their home, and in doing so offered life to that little rock and brought a spirit into the world.

Here’s my sculpt in various colours of plasticine. This is the easy bit. Next I’ll have to mould it in plaster, then cast it in latex!