Day 311 - 365/2014

Day Three Hundred Eleven

I will absolutely still be finishing this rabbit guy at some point...but tonight I am officially releasing myself from any thoughts that I can complete him by a certain upcoming deadline.  There.  I feel much better now.

Here are the photos from tonight.

The main problem is that one eye is more sunken than the other.  This was one of my first attempts at using glass eyes...at one point I popped out the first set and then made plaster cloth eyes before replacing them with the ones he has now.  I didn't have a feel yet for "aiming" the eyes and also, I built this head from scratch (rather than covering a roundish object).  This is most likely fixable, just not yet.

I first started working on this guy a couple of years ago when I was still in the long learning process of plaster cloth building.  Not that I am all that much more proficient now...but back then I was really finding my way.  What is now the rabbit guy had a few pretty disturbing looks...here...and here...and then his ears really grew here.  And I believe he sat pretty much like that for quite a long time.  I don't remember -- and I don't feel like going through the blog any farther tonight -- when exactly I started working on him again, but he has been in progress for a couple of years...waiting for another few months (probably) isn't going to hurt him any and I just might even come up with a way to fix his face/eyes...who knows.  

On to the next guy in line!

Day 148 - 365/2014

Day One Hundred Forty-Eight

Today I was actually able to join up with Joan and Leann for a Wednesday Morning!  We met at Tuscan Cafe for coffee and talking and Joan and Leann worked on small (portable) projects.  I was just not in the right place to work on stuff at that hour yet...plus I had nothing small to take to the coffeehouse.  Most of my stuff is large or has a bazillion parts or is really messy.  I love our Wednesday Mornings!

After our meet up I had an appointment at the eye doctor then I ran a few errands and came home and conked out (unintentionally) on Benadryl...man, this season is pretty brutal already.  Then I woke up just in time to become more upright and walking around and Kurt called to say that he and Joanne would be by soon.  Whew -- great timing!

Kurt and Joanne arrived and I explained what I had in mind to Kurt.  I showed him the old plans for the construction and getting the rabbit guy vertical.  Somehow between the old plans, my messed up explanation, and his sense of tools and putting things together, Kurt came up with a simpler solution (that I definitely could not have done on my own) and everything came together...I "helped" by holding pieces in place while he drilled holes and drilled in the screws.  THANK YOU, KURT!!!

I think I am pretty wiped out for tonight but now I can start thinking of what will come next with the rabbit guy.  He needs arms/hands, shoes/feet, and I need to come up with what his story is...what he's all about.

Day 147 -- 365/2014

Day One Hundred Forty-Seven

Well, when things don't go as planned, play Yahtzee instead.

And that is exactly what we did.  My sister Sue (and my 4-legged niece Abby) came over.  Sue was going to be my second set of hands for putting the rabbit guy together this afternoon.  But even with the new and improved plans, we couldn't pull it off.  I think this is going to require more drilling (and more precise drilling) than I am capable of doing.  Even with a pilot hole as deep as the drill would go, the screw just would not go in all the way.  Joanne's husband Kurt agreed to help me with this, I guess I am going to have to call in heavier duty help than just Sue and me.

Okay...so after Sue and I got back from a late lunch/early dinner at Thai Basil in Livonia, we pulled all the stuff together and got started.

Ready to get started.

Sue's main job was to hold the rabbit guy's head off the table and to give resistance when I was pushing forward with the drill.

This is as far as the screw would go...it has about a half inch to go.  AND the screw is stripped now.

Thank goodness the screw unscrewed with a pair of pliers...it would not cooperate with the drill to unscrew it.

My four-legged niece Abby -- such a sweet, good natured, well behaved girly girl.

Let the battle begin -- we play three games at a time in a best two out of three match.

HA! -- I WON!  And I went on to win a second 3 game match!  This hardly ever happens -- Sue is generally the "Queen of Yahtzee" in these parts.

It is always a good time with Sue and Abby.  I considered doing something else art-wise tonight to make up for today's no-go project, but the Benadryl is kicking in and I am getting a bit loopy.

Day 144 - 365/2014

Day One Hundred Forty-Four

Hmmm...a change in construction plans is necessary.

I was talking with Joanne's husband Kurt (who is also an artist) and it turns out he has a bit of daytime time on his hands.  I was telling him about my troubles with screwing the rabbit guy's legs into place and Kurt agreed to give me a hand...hopefully in the next few days.

Rabbit guy propped up against the wall.

When I pulled the parts out of the studio to see if I would need to buy anything before Kurt comes over I realized a couple of flaws in my original construction plan.

It looked pretty good on paper but when I was setting the rabbit guy up I found that he isn't really stable with the original design...not to mention it was going to be difficult with his legs that close together.  I really like the look of the tall skinny rabbit, but he needs a bit more substance to balance better and for me to be able to work on him in the stages that come after this.

Here is the new plan.  Because his torso is hollow and there is not much edge to attach the smaller plaque, I decided to affix it in place now with masking tape.  This will make it very secure and will give us a base to screw up through the second plaque and into/through the smaller one.  Then we can attach the legs with the little L-brackets at the top to the second plaque.  With the legs wider apart it will be easier to work on him.  Next we can either screw some long screws up threw the bottom of the base into the legs to anchor him to the base or just attach his legs at the bottom to the base with larger L-brackets...or do both.  The fronts of his legs will be covered up by the shoe forms, and I can probably hide the other brackets with a little more plaster cloth and paper. 

He can actually stand on his own with the second plaque and his legs farther apart.

I don't know what his arms and hands will look like yet, or what he will be wearing...I am just anxious to get the construction done so that he is ready for more work.  I hope he won't need to be weighted on the base...the base piece itself is fairly heavy...we'll see.