2012/365 - Day 298

manikin progress -- with two updates

Last night I worked on the manikin in 3 stages until 3 a.m.  Shortly before I was done I really wrecked my knee when I stood up one last time...for a while I actually thought I was going to have to call an ambulance.  Yow!

Today's blog post is really from that strange time between days...the time after I post at midnight but before I go to bed and get up again for the day (which officially makes it the next day for me).

This is about where he was when I left off with the last blog entry.

His head and body fill out more.

I need a shape for his head...he wants to have a large bear-ish kind of head shape.

Looking around the studio I came across this iron pills bottle.  I cut the top off and it fit just about right over what I've already done to the head.

ha ha ha

Yes -- that is it!

Not exactly the cat creature I was hoping for...but I actually like this a whole lot more.   

Now he needs a more creature-ish body.

Hmmm...the last pair of vinyl gloves I set aside tonight.

Wad 'em up, squeeze the air out, grab a strip of plaster cloth, get it wet, pre-smooth it, work  f-a-s-t  and yay -- it holds on!

Awww...he is coming along nicely.  He needs a face and ears, though. 
 
Back to the studio to rummage...

Aha!  Plastic jumping frogs!

The heads will be the base for ears.  (no separate photos -- had to work too quickly)

And hey...that body kind of looks like a muzzle to me.

Again...no separate photos...two layers of plastic frog later and he has a face and ears!

He is not a bear, he is a bear-ish sort of creature.

Slight overhead view.

 I set him aside to dry in the guest bathroom -- more controlled environment and the cats are locked out.












Update -- 10 p.m. Wednesday night

Sadly, I have a sinking, self-loathing feeling that he is not going to be dry enough to paint and get him finished in time for his original purpose -- Go Figure -- a fundraiser auction for ArtsNovi. 

I was way off on my timing and I thought I had a whole 'nother week to work on this.  The creature took on a personality/shape of its own making as I was working on him (as usually happens when I use plaster cloth and I think I have an idea).  Although I was careful with the layering of the plaster cloth, there are parts that are thicker than others.  The plaster cloth's box states you can speed up the drying time by putting the piece in an oven at a prescribed temperature and length of time.  I have never done this before -- and I was really worried about doing it because of the vinyl gloves and plastic pill bottle inside the structure -- but I decided to try it.

Unfortunately, it made very little difference.  He is still almost as not-dry as when he went into the oven.

I think the darned humidity and stubborn not-quite-Fall-yet weather is having an effect on the drying time as well.

He is back in the guest bathroom again to wait it out.  I feel badly about not finishing him in time for Go Figure.  Maybe I can bid on someone else's finished manikin to make up for it.  I love this guy and I will absolutely finish him when he is dry but I am really disappointed in myself for not following through with the promised piece.

ANOTHER UPDATE -- sometime after midnight... 

It turns out I can still make the actual auction -- I just won't be in the pre-sale display(s) around town!!!  YAY!

WHAT a relief!

2012/365 - Day 288

prepping the manikin

I am participating in an auction/fundraiser event for ArtsNovi called "Go Figure".  For $10 we were given a 12" wooden jointed artist's manikin and we are to do whatever we'd like to it.  (It bugs me a little to type "manikin" instead of mannequin -- but that is what it says on the box this guy came in.)

We are meeting on the 26th to turn in our completed figures.  Then they will be displayed at various locations around town.  It will culminate at the event on Nov 9 at the Novi Civic Center.

Here is a photo of some of manikins from the last time they did this, two years ago.  My friends Peggy and Carla participated in that one.

Carla made the furry white guy with the grrrr hands and Peggy made the gold and red and swirls mermaid.

I will be plaster cloth-ing my manikin.  I wanted to save the pose and prep him for the plaster cloth, so I had to cover him first with masking tape.

That is what I usually do when I start a plaster cloth project because the material seems to cling better to the masking tape than to a super smooth surface like this wood.

This is the pose I finally settled on.  It is a kind of prance-y grrrrr guy.

I didn't realize that I'd need to cut the tape really thin and small...I guess I was thinking it would just mold to the shape of the figure.

I can't get my camera to "see" what I am seeing...the angles are kind of wacky...but here he is all taped up.

I think I am going to try to turn the rod that holds him in place into a tail.

I hope to give him a creature head and hands and feet.

There -- now I can lay him down on his back (so he doesn't fall over) and he won't lose his positioning.



I hope I can get him to turn out close to how I'm seeing him in my head -- wish me luck!




This is a photo from the ArtsNovi Facebook page of one of the manikins in this year's Go Figure.  It is called "Imagine" and it is by Tiffany Frikken.