Day 179 - 365/2014

Day One Hundred Seventy-Nine

Today and tonight I have been wrestling with the from scratch goat-like guy.  I really want to get started on the plaster cloth wrapping/building but I had to give in and admit to myself that he really wasn't stable enough to work on.

I hung up another clamp light at the far end of the basement and took the from scratch goat-like guy down there to work on him.

I added more cardboard to strengthen his back -- so that it could hold his head.

Then I taped the head in place so I could start to plaster cloth it...but then I sat down and really looked at it and had to admit to myself that it needed to be more stable.

I decided that another board at the top of his legs would maybe keep them from wobbling...but I had to cut another piece of that board to fit...and this time I had to do it by hand...for ME, this is a huge job.

I removed the papier mache rock and laid the structure up on the table on its side.

I added the board that I cut and attached it with corner brackets.  I do not understand why this had to be so difficult.  Yes, the angles were tight, but come on...I was totally drenched with sweat by the time I was done.

Then I figured I better make some makeshift things to secure the tomato cage to the new board.

I added four of these to the top of the new board...this isn't moving at all now!  Again, tight angles...I had to do these by hand with the screwdriver...the drill wouldn't fit in there.

Then I decided that the papier mache rock might be better used in a different project and I really wanted this guy to be made out of scraps from the basement...I crammed a box into his chest area -- it fit very tight.  The flat part of it held the head in place very well when I tried it.

I need to strengthen the box with more cardboard and shape it a little more, but this is a good start...I am beat for tonight.

I think it feels a little better now...plus I feel like it is all my work.  I am sure I will do something really cool with the papier mache rock that Ingrid gave me...but it will come along sometime in the future.

Day 175 - 365/2014

Day One Hundred Seventy-Five

I was thinking about the from scratch guy this evening.  I went down to the basement with my camera and sketch book and did some thinking...and made a couple of adjustments.

The from scratch guy...safely stored up off of the floor.

I pulled him out and really took a long look at him from all directions. 

I decided I was not happy with the tail-end...I didn't like the pointy triangly thing going on and leading into the sticking out tail...which would be even longer later.

I decided to cut off the legs of the tomato cage...this meant getting out my trusty all purpose hand saw.

Ta-daaaaa...it took quite a bit of sawing and also quite a bit of bending but I finally got the legs off!

I want to still use the three wire legs as the base/armature of the tail...it is less likely to break with the metal inside.

I wrapped masking tape around the three metal legs, just allowing them to go how they wanted to go.  I think it will make a decent tail and I can shape it later if I want to...it is a pretty good length, too.

I covered up the open end with the same cardboard that was on the triangle end and I realized I could cut part of it out and then wrap tape and part of the end of the cardboard around the back legs to form the beginning of the back hind quarters.

I know this is still very rough, but I am starting to get more ideas.

It occurred to me maybe one of these heads could work with the from scratch guy's body...make the front be a chest instead of a head...but the dog guy head is just too large.  I need to look back in the blog and find out how the goat-like guy's head is attached to the tomato cage base.  I think it is a cylindrical oatmeal box or a cottage cheese container attached to an inverted plastic hanging basket set over the legs of the inverted tomato cage.  IF that is the case, I should be able to remove the head (and maybe neck parts) pretty easily and then work them onto the from scratch guy's body...but not tonight.

I tried sketching it out and then I printed the photos and tried cutting the parts out and gluing them together -- just to see.

It is still early in the ideas/construction phase of the from scratch guy...whatever he turns out to be, he will not be very reality based...definitely creature vs kind of real animal.  It also just occurred to me that the goat-like guy's head/horns are also pretty from scratch.

365/2013 - Day 200

having to re-think things

Wow -- it is day 200 of this year already.  Where does the time go?

Tonight I have been thinking I really need to get started getting the legs attached to the torso of this rabbit-ish/cat-ish guy.  His body is made from a canister that held dishwasher pellets.  The sides are a fairly rigid cardboard and the bottom is a thin piece of aluminum.  I didn't think about just how thin that metal is until tonight when I put the hard cardboard tube legs into place, but I am getting ahead of myself.

It makes me very nervous to use the Dremel tool or the drill for anything other than wood.  My plan was to make a tiny pilot hole with the Dremel tool and then widen it as I went along with the drill.  I got a huge surprise when I used the Dremel on the can bottom.  It was bouncy and fought me, then when it pushed through it took off on me in both of the holes.  THAT scared me enough to not want to put the big drill to it.

Then I remembered I had that new 3-in-1 saw that I bought a while back.  I was hoping one of the blades would cut metal and YAY, it does!  But getting it started was quite a chore.  Once I got it established in the "pilot" hole(s), I was able to saw at it for a while...but it was exhausting to my wrists because the metal is so wobbly AND because I was trying very hard not to put any distress on the plaster cloth parts of the construction...including cracking the walls of the torso.

My plan was to cut the holes into pie slices and then push them inwards to help grip onto the hard cardboard tube legs...but it was just too difficult on my wrists/hands.  THEN I remembered the tin snips I have -- I actually just saw them a couple of days ago in the other studio.

The snips cut through the metal like buttah!  What a difference!  I made my pie shapes and pushed them in but then when I tried to insert the tubes it became apparent it would be better if I simply cut the circles out all the way -- it was just that easy to use the snips.

Okay -- so then I inserted the hard cardboard tube legs and -- gah -- the metal is so wobbly that it doesn't want to support the weight of the upper construction on the tube legs.  I thought about how perhaps the plaster cloth would stiffen the bottom and I could push the legs into that, but I want to apply the plaster cloth to the legs first (for easier working conditions and hopefully for more evenly covered legs) -- but in the end I thought it would probably be better to make everything really sturdy and use a round piece of wood as a base and find some wooden legs to screw into that base...it could be something like one of those inexpensive plaques (that I probably have in the basement somewhere already) and then attaching that assembly to the upper body assembly and then adding the arms, etc.  I will work it out when I get to that part.

In the meantime I went ahead and used the snips to cut out the metal bottom of the can.  Easy peasy.

I may even have more of this wood somewhere -- I am sure I rounded those edges.  I like the look of them better for legs, too.