365/2013 - Day 83

physically tiring day

It sure doesn't look like I accomplished very much looking at the photos for today, but it feels (physically) like I did...man!  I think that is due mostly to the sawing, going up and down the basement stairs a few times, working in the basement in between studio sessions, using the box cutter knife on the cardboard...stuff like that.  

I started out today adding more paper to the cat-king-creature.  There is still quite a bit to do on him.

first layer of white paper on the face and pink on the nose

lots of layers later...I hope it looks good when it dries

remind me not to get those wonderful alcohol inks ANYwhere NEAR plaster cloth projects ever again...they are just not meant for this...they re-wet and re-activate and bleed through and get in the brush...gah!

looks nice now while it is wet...we'll see how it turns out when it dries

Then I moved on to the bear-like guy.  Ditto...still lots to do.

lots of white paper on the face/muzzle

then one layer of pale blue...hopefully it will dry lighter

I am struggling with the camel-like creature's legs.  They are just not looking right to me.  I know they won't be anatomically correct, but I need them to look like they could support him at least.  I am even having a problem with drawing them in my sketch book while I look at a copy of a real camel or two.  Time for some sawing...then back to the sketch book and thinking.  I have a feeling this guy is going to linger in non-assembled state(s) for a long, long time.

even if I angled his legs severely and used a pool ball joint, he would look like he was on his tip toes and I don't think he could stand on his own

well...I can't get them any shorter -- LOL

I need to make changes to the hips/haunches or something...all of his parts are together...this is just going to be a very long-term project...but I will figure it out

And speaking of very long-term projects...

The crocodile-like guy was the very first thing I tried to make with various papier mache techniques.  I followed a few different books and added things in different styles and then stumbled upon a package of plaster cloth that was in my studio stash from years before this project even.  Out of all of the techniques and methods and formulas plaster cloth won.  I am still learning new things pretty much every time I use it -- I just love it.

ANYway...looking back in the blog I see that I started the crocodile-like guy way back on June 24, 2010 -- geez!  Then he languished again until May 19, 2011.  And then on Sept 7, 2011 I got up the nerve to put him on a tomato cage.

I have been wanting to do something with him (off and on) many times since then, but the main problem is that he is horribly unbalanced and really testing my construction skills.  I think a lot of the projects that get shelved for a while are supposed to wait until I've learned other things/tricks/steps while working on totally different things.  I don't know everything there is to know about plaster cloth (and I probably never will) but I sure am enjoying the process.  I am really glad to have blogged this long and photographed as many steps as I have because it really helps me when I try to see what I did on previous pieces and remember what worked and honestly, I really do forget from project to project how things went together.

Okay -- so today my Universal collaborator(s) started to show me a few things for the croco-creature.

sticking out of the closet in the wet plaster cloth studio

sort of what I might be going for -- the idea comes from one of my all-time favorite Tyrannosaurus Rex songs "Warlord of the Royal Crocodiles" -- I think the staff in his hand might help a little with the balance and weight distribution

while working in the basement I decided to go "shopping" when I was done with my chores down there -- voila! -- I still had two sets of flexible aluminum clothes dryer vent ducts and dryer vent elbows (yes, I looked up the correct names for them)

at first I thought I might put the "arm" assembly right there in the roundy part -- but the other side isn't as roundy

I traced around one end of a dryer vent elbow on a piece of medium-weight cardboard from a box I'd broken down earlier, then I cut it with the box cutter in pie shape wedges but I found it wouldn't make a round enough hole -- so I had to make more cuts -- and that worked incredibly well

trying it out

the two vent pieces are cool because you can position them any way you want -- they turn completely around in every direction -- and I can stretch the arms out longer if it turns out I need to later on

in all the time this guy has been waiting around, he has fallen over a few times...but this is the only damage that has happened -- just one broken glow-in-the-dark tooth -- and thankfully it was a clean break -- easily fixed when the time comes

geez...what a goofy shot

from this view you can see the container of about 10 pounds of cat litter to counterbalance him

since he is a Royal Crocodile he will need a crown...this is my first attempt at a plaster cloth crown...made several years ago

but I made it for ME...plus, it is too big for the croco-creature

a better look at the counterweight sitting on the back of the tomato cage

thinking...

he will need hands...

and a staff of some sort

Okay -- I took a break for a while...then I went to check on the drying status of the cat-king-creature and the bear-like guy.  

not bad...still needs a lot of work, but he is coming along fine

whoa -- now THIS is disappointing -- that alcohol ink is bleeding through from somewhere -- there must be a trace of it in the brush or something -- there was NO alcohol ink on this part of the face when I started this morning -- gah!

again -- more alcohol ink bleed through -- I might be able to live with some of this on the paws...maybe not

That's enough for one day...I have a lot to think about!

365/2013 - Day 76

another long day -- this time in three sessions

Session One
After working on that sort of small guy yesterday I really needed to work on something larger.  The legs on the camel-like-creature have been bugging me and that was just what I needed to get started on today.

time for some plaster cloth surgery

much sawing was done

I found some basic structural problem spots three holes plus a hairline fracture -- those needed to be filled in

When I add wet plaster cloth to dry plaster cloth I often have to get the area of overlapping-ness really wet -- it occurred to me that I could solve two issues with one fix -- I could keep the area wet enough for the first layer of wet plaster cloth by using some wet Scott rags -- this would also help with the filling in of the valleys in the texture of the base creature's real papier mache.

[buzzer sound] -- Wrong!  Well, it did fill in the valleys nicely, but it also started nearly melting the old real papier mache!

yikes!

I nearly put my thumb through the surface while I was smoothing this area!  I am really glad I only applied one small section of wet Scott rags!  (They work just fine over older super dry plaster cloth.)

Wow -- it took a long time to cover over the last of the original base body areas -- lots of smoothing and lots of being really careful because it turned out the wet plaster cloth was also "melting" the old real papier mache...just not as quickly as with the wet Scott rags.  I also needed to be careful (even though I double-gloved my right hand) because that papier mache texture is really really sharp!  Break time and time to think about what to do next.

Session Two

I went in search of baby/young camel leg examples.  I realize I am not going to be able to make an anatomically correct camel...this is a camel-like-creature.  I don't know enough about skeletal structure and muscles and stuff to attempt anything very realistic (and I don't really care enough to study about it) and I much prefer making my creatures over realistic animals anyway.  

So...back to work...lemme think about this.

Also -- I have a basket of pool balls that I got from a garage sale a couple of years ago.  I have been wanting to use them and this might be a good excuse.

Hey -- I could use the pool balls as joints to join the leg sections -- they can make crazy angles -- yay

Session Three
After another break and a lot more thinking (and trying stuff out) I decided that those legs would need to be cut a few times, not just once.  I needed to get a bit of an angle going on the back legs (and I will probably need to reshape the top/haunch-y parts) but I needed to saw off another section of both of the back legs.  

The pool balls (and any wooden balls I already had) were too big for just joining sections so I came up with this solution -- wadded up DRY Scott rags with discarded vinyl gloves over them to contain the wad plus be able to stand up to the wetness of the plaster cloth.

Oh man -- you would not believe how long this took -- adjusting and holding and masking taping and tweaking and pulling and positioning and holding in place and flipping the creature over before the plaster cloth set...all while standing up and leaning over the table...I am DONE for tonight!

Here is the camel-like-creature drying -- propped up off of the table surface -- this is going to be a lot more work than I counted on -- but that's cool -- I like this guy and I am learning more about plaster cloth and real papier mache and making angles with tubes...and...and...and...

Okay -- time to feed the cats and watch some television!