2012/365 - Day 2

I know it isn't going to happen like this every time, but...

Wow. I love it when synchronicity happens.

This evening I tweaked my blog intention list thing and added that I wanted to use a sketchbook more often. I doctored one of the photos I took of the blue wolf-guy and printed it out and cut it out and glued it into the sketchbook that just happened to be on my desk.

When this guy turned out this way I was thinking he was some sort of guru or monk or something wrapped up in a robe. But when I was cutting out the picture I thought, "no, he looks like a guy that just stepped out of the shower and has a towel wrapped around him" and it made me laugh.

So I tried drawing some legs underneath him and added fur to his legs and chest.

Then it occurred to me -- remember that cabinet that fell down a few steps and crashed on my head and hit the floor when I was moving it down from the loft in the cat room?
Well, I just moved it again a few days ago and one of the legs came off again so I took both of the legs off and I like the cabinet a whole lot more. Anyway...




These are those legs from the cabinet. As soon as I had drawn the legs on the blue wolf-guy I knew these were his legs.















However, I did not know at the time that the saw I have been using to cut the legs off of the tomato cages (and also anything else that needs to be cut like the swimming pool floaty bopper things) is not the saw you need to cut wood.

Luckily I found my other saw and was able to cut the wood off quickly and without incident.







A photograph of what synchronicity + success looks like (for me).













And here is the blue wolf-guy with his new legs -- he stands on his own! AND the legs have feet already -- just like in the sketch!

I have plenty of work left to do on this guy, including figuring out how to attach the legs to the body...but I love it when a string of things just falls into place! Wow.

2012/365 - Day 1

starting again!

Since it is like I am re-setting the blog and starting over, I thought I'd grab a couple of unfinished projects off of the "save it for later" shelf and start them over, too. There are a lot of photos in this blog entry because I worked on both of these guys in the same session and I didn't want to make separate posts for them.



As with pretty much every plaster cloth guy I make, I have no idea what these two guys will turn into.

This guy sort of started off as a blue wolf-ish creature.
















And this guy was one I was never sure of to begin with. Depending on how you look at him he looks like a sheep, horse, bear, hippo...I don't know.















One of the easiest ways for me to get going is to just start wrapping stuff on a guy. I am using small-bubble bubble wrap that was left over from some packaging.

As this guy was taking some shape I thought he might be wearing a suit coat of some sort and that I would add arms later.












back view

















This guy was looking sheep-y and the bubble wrap was looking fleecy.















I thought I'd try and give him a round belly.

















Ahhhh...fresh start at the plaster cloth area! I dumped out all of the plaster dust, changed the plastic bags on the table and cut new plaster cloth triangles. Ready to go!






I didn't take any photos while I was plaster cloth'ing the wolf-guy because I was trying to control the shape he was taking on. The bubble wrap was giving me a few problems and the wolf-guy was becoming less and less like I had envisioned. I kept trying to keep pressure on the front and back and let most of the bulges go to the sides but I couldn't maintain the pressure. Then I used a strip of paper rag and masking tape and pulled everything in as tightly as I could...it worked a teensy bit but I knew it wasn't going to hold. I gave up and just kept covering the body the way it wanted to go.




Having learned a small lesson from the previous guy, I took the bubble wrap off of this guy and decided to try and build up a shape with tightly folded paper rags.

I wanted to go for a creature in a suit since I couldn't do it with the wolf-guy.

I figured I'd need to get the shoulders and chest and back the way I would need them and then add arms later.










taping on the folded paper rags

















after the first layer of plaster cloth


I was trying to think of what I could make arms out of.

Now that I have that little hack saw (?) I feel like everything is fair game...LOL.

I realized the glue stick tube would be too wide after I already cut it...the plaster cloth does add quite a bit of bulk.






Ha -- I have a bajillion pencils! And I could cut one in half and then sharpen both of the pieces and puncture the creature so they'd be anchored.














I tried positioning the pencils/arms at different points but I ended up liking them here the best.














Oh...here is how the wolf-creature ended up.

Not at ALL what I was thinking of.
















back view















I wrapped the pencils/arms with plaster cloth...he is looking a little Godzilla-y to me right now.


It is funny how his species changes as you turn him a little.


Sheep? About-to-become-Godzilla?











Horse? Hippo? Big ol' dog?
















Here he kind of looks like a bear to me...




















...see?

















...kinda bear-y

OR a little like the Universal Remonster from Aqua Teen Hunger Force...I love that little guy!

(There is probably a commercial before the ATHF clip...and the clips just keep playing automatically...just sayin'.)











I cracked myself up when I was leaving the studio -- I had to take one more photo.

Look at the size difference between the "Hands Up" cat-creature I've been working on and these two little guys!