Tonight the "Hands Up" cat-creature is getting more chicken wire added to his base.
You know, I don't even know why I try to work on the chicken wire with the tomato cage on the floor...it just doesn't work. It kills my back and it is really tough to control.
Gah.
But this guy is way too tall for the table I used last night with the goat-creature.
I had to improvise a table and I found that this Rubbermaid bin is pretty stable (there is a lot of stuff inside of it to weight it) and it is wide enough for the bottom of the tomato cage.
As it is, this guy's fingers are only about eight inches from the ceiling.
Okay. I anchored a couple of spots with wire before I moved it and now I had to deal with the mess I made of it -- OR -- take off the wire. I opted for dealing with it.
Last night with the goat-creature I wrapped the chicken wire around the base and then crunched it up to get it closer to the frame when the shape of the panels changed on the tiers.
I am trying to learn from my "not as successful as I'd hoped for" (not a mistake) and I am taking the time to cut the chicken wire and anchor it as I go around. But this time I was kinda "shown" to try going vertical with it instead of horizontal. But not totally (which I may try on the next guy) -- I mean work with it from top to bottom and then cut it halfway around -- and try to cut it to the angles. (That last sentence makes sense to me.)
I am taping on the inside this time and I will lay the plaster cloth onto the chicken wire, smooth it over the honeycomb pattern and let the tape catch it from behind. (I did it the opposite way on the top tier.)
I cut the chicken wire off shorter on the outside but it is still pokey at the top even though it lays flatter against the dry plaster cloth here than it did on the goat-creature.
The pokey parts of the chicken wire are getting taped...mainly so I don't get punctured. It isn't that the chicken wire is all that sharp, it is just that the cut wire parts are pokey.
I want SO badly to start the plaster cloth layer(s) but I am going to force myself to leave this for tonight.
I don't know if this masking tape is old (I got it from the basement), or if it got damp and dried, but it is super sticky and not only is it hard to pull from the roll (as in it takes some strength) but it is also hard to pull it off the roll without ripping it. It is also so sticky that it is pulling the skin on my fingertips and now they are incredibly tender...as if the skin is thin there.
I think that tenderness is also due to having done this sort of work for several nights in a row. My hands get very pruney and wrinkled when I use the plaster cloth and I wash my hands a LOT afterwards to get all of the residue off. Whatever. I'm just saying that I need to listen to my hands and fingertips (and back and shoulders) and let this be enough for tonight.
I need to get a box of vinyl surgical gloves...the kind with the powder inside. I found a nearly empty box of them in the kitchen cupboard -- and I can do the plaster cloth with them on -- but they are a Large and there is too much room at the fingertips...I need to get a box of Mediums. I think that would help my hands hold up better. I will hunt some down early this week. I also need to check out that brand of masking tape to see if it really is that sticky. One the one hand it is good for the chicken wire because it actually sticks. One the other hand it is pretty tiring to work with.
I am not bitching or complaining...this is more of a note to myself.
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