After that first impulse, notes follow, the idea is further elaborated on notepads and slowly the medal starts to take shape on paper. Then the questions arises: who has documentation about sea otters? Where can you borrow books about these animals? Who has something to say about the topic? When all her data  are processed on paper, Klein renders her ideas into beeswax placed on two pieces of hardboard. As soon as the positive wax models are finished, two negative plaster moulds are cast over them.
When the moulds have dried, Klein fills them up with clay, so that a clay medal takes shape. Possible unclear spots are retouched while the positive clay model is still wet. After the clay medal has dried up it is grazed with fine waterproof sandpaper. Then the original model is ready to be baked in a ceramic oven. That is always a tense moment because it is possible for a model to crack up. The baked clay medal (the original model) goes to the founder, who casts the medal into bronze.
 

Sea otters don't live in the Netherlands but along the  northern coasts of the Pacific Ocean, e.g. off the coast of California. Their habitat stretches until one-and-a-half mile off the shore, where the seaweed grows in which they live. In order to sleep and rest the sea otters wrap themselves in water plants, so that they take a nap floating on their backs on a bed of seaweed. They keep their head and paws dry by holding them above their body. The weed keeps their temperature at 38 degrees Celsius. They look like teddy bears that have fallen into the water. Living in groups, consisting something of up to 100 heads, they spend their fifteen to twenty year old life in the waves, which can be very cold in the northern regions. Their fur of more than a million hairs offers adequate protection. THE MEDAL - The medal bears the portrait of a sea otter (picture 1) in a characteristic pose; floating on its back, wrapped in sea weed. The reverse portrays the back of the sea otter seen from underneath (picture 2). The text is placed between the water plants, signed middle under with CK. If one views the medal from the side (picture 3) then the edge constitutes the water-level. The designer opted for the American title because of the origin of the sea otter. 

Carla loves animals very much, and the medal bears witness to this. Moreover this creation belongs to a category of specific medals which have an obverse which continues to the reverse so that one whole is created. The medal can be placed in upright position, but it can also be laid flat on a piece of plexiglass, giving the impression that the sea otter floats in seaweed. 

(translation Ellen van Heijningen)

QUIET STRENGTH - My admiration for Carla Klein's medals is not without foundation. She has learned it on her own. Her teacher on the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam, professor Piet Esser, taught her from 1967 until 1972 the technique of making sculptures, but not of making medals; Carla only began with that after she had left the Rijksakademie. Esser confirmed this in a talk I had with him in December 1999. Moreover, Carla works on a medal at least six months, whereas modelling sculptures demands less time. That is probably the reason why so few sculptors make medals. Obviously I'm very grateful to the sculptress for having drawn my attention to the beauty of medal art. What started as a hesitant discussion about coins and medals turned into a fascinating hobby. Carla often talks about the creations of her teacher Esser and the medallist Christl Seth-Höfner, for whom she has great admiration. Afterwards Heide Dobberkau was added. Carla considers their medals real works of art. Apart from that she considers the Renaissance medals as a high point. Carla herself worked in all peace and quiet on her oeuvre. She didn't bother very much about the various currents or trends which took place in medal art. As a result she developed in the course of years a particular style of her own. The models are sculptured and there is little polishing and filing to get a smoother surface. The sculptress remained faithful to herself and the task she had put herself: to create as well as possible medals within the traditional circle. There is still an ongoing growth in her work. Her medals have through their intensity a quiet strength, which you will experience when you have the medals for some time in your possession. From an artistic point of view Carla Klein reached a great height and as far as her technical skill is concerned: from the above it's obvious that she belongs to the few medallists who still really master the making of portrait medals.

Arnold Nieuwendam

In the period between 1993 and 1998 sculptress-medallist Carla Klein, living and working in Amsterdam, created five medals inspired by the Etruscans, the  fascinating people from Central-Italy, "1100-90 B.C. Carla Klein chose four of these drawings from the Grave of the Banquet, Tomba del Triclinio, 480-470 B.C. in Tarquinia, Italy, and one from the Grave of the Deathbed, Tomba del Letto Funebre, 470-460 B.C., also in Tarquinia.

On the obverse of the first medal, created in 1993, Klein depicted a Dancer (fig. 1), the boy, walking leftwards, carries a bird in his left hand. The circle-shape is accentuated by an olive-branch with five leaves. The second medal (1994) shows a Woman-Dancer (fig. 2), clothed in a transparant dress, turned leftwards. Her right foot is placed down in the very centre; she dances barefooted. Alongside the edge an olive-branche is shaped, also with five leaves at the end. In 1995 Klein depicted a Twin-flute player (fig. 3) on the third medal. With a clarity that reminds of a cameo she shaped a boy playing the twin-flute, the oboe of ancient times. He, too, wears a transparant attire and walks leftwards. On olive-branches five birds are seated, the ones on top whistling a melody and one at the bottom picking at the olives.
 

A fourth medal, made in 1997, is entitled Young man with a Horse (fig. 4). The youth walks leftwards with his horse. The animal is harnessed and the boy embraces its neck. Alongside the edge an olive-branch with seven heart-shaped leaves does duty as an extra-accent. The last medal of the series, called Woman-Dancer with Garland (fig. 5), was created recently, during the winter of 1997/1998. The dancer, looking back, walks rightwards, holding a wreath in her hand. Her transparant garment is draped gracefully round her body. Alongside the edge three birds can be observed. The reverses (fig. 6) of all five medals are identical. Carla Klein made a choice of birds and dolphins, so often to be seen on Etruscan mural paintings, especially in the Grave of the Fishing, Tomba della Caccia e Pesca, ca. 510 B.C. She shaped a bird rising from the water with above two more birds in full flight. Left and right near the edge we see dolphins, the left one diving downwards and the other upwards. The medal is signed in the centre of the lower half, with the monogram CK. 

(Translation Coen Linnekamp)