I set a plan for myself for this weekend. I know what I need to do and in what order. This was a non-stop work day and I am glad it is over because I am really tired now. LOL.
Today I focused on the Atomic Fireball Happy Hour guy, the manikin, and the marsupial guy.
AFHH needed the most attention. I had to go and get floor flanges and pipes for his legs. When I got back home I went shopping in the basement and found the perfect base for him -- I came across a lamp I got from someone's trash pile during the summer. I took off the electrical parts and knocked the base loose with my rubber mallet. It took a lot of drilling with the Dremel tool and repositioning the flanges and trying again and drilling again and repeating all the steps but I finally got it right. Now I just hope that the plaster cloth will cover the flanges -- they are rusting and the color is coming up through the plaster cloth. It will just take extra gesso and paint but it will all work out. What I am worried about is getting the plaster cloth to adhere to the flanges and wooden base and not crack at the seams. I can always cover it all up with paper and then paint but I'd like it to work in the plaster cloth stage.
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| LOL -- look at all of those holes! |
Then it was time to start thinking about if I really wanted him to have fingers or just give him rounded off paws. I was hesitant to drill the wooden balls and I knew the holes would be close but what the heck -- I gave it a go. I had a bag of wooden skewers left from another project and they were a pretty close fit with the holes that the Dremel made.
He looks so wacky -- like he has magical waves coming out of his hands or something. Next it was time to choose a length for those fingers.
I set him aside and moved on to putting a base on the manikin. He has that built-in base and he does stand up but the way I have him posed he is a teensy bit tippy. If you just have him on a table top or shelf he is fine...but I was worrying that he could accidentally get bumped in a show setting so I decided to add the extra base. It makes him more stable. I am just not terribly skilled at drilling and I didn't want to mess up what I had already done to him.
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| figures, doesn't it??? just that much too long! |
Okay -- time to start the plaster cloth!
The clutter and mess on the table was driving me nuts so I cleared it off, changed the table coverings, and started fresh.
I was not looking forward to keeping track of all of those fingers -- they go in specific holes because my drilling is so uneven. Then it dawned on me that I could leave them in place and work on each finger, one-at-a-time style. Duh.
Now...on to blending/covering the flanges and attaching them to the base.
That was a very lengthy process...and a very wet and messy one, too. I cleaned it up and set the whole thing aside to dry (partially) overnight. I will try to do more with it tomorrow...at least see what else I can do with it. For now, I am happy with the progress.
Next it was time to put the two bases together on the manikin...another wet and messy job that will need to sit overnight.
Last (for today) -- I needed to add an inside seam to the marsupial's pouch. I can't get my hand all the way down to it so I had to poke at it with longer, reachy things...scissors, Sharpie, etc. I got the seam done but it isn't as smooth as I'd like it. I may try again tomorrow to smooth it out. I also worked on the bottom edge of the torso/column. This is another let it dry overnight project to see if the seam is going to crack. Again, I can find workarounds for it but I would prefer it to be taken care of in the plaster cloth stage. Tomorrow I also need to give most of the entire marsupial guy more layers of plaster cloth just to toughen and strengthen it.
And here are the three guys resting for the night.
Whew -- I didn't feel it at the time, but now I am really glad I stopped work when I did. I am BEAT.
