2012/265 - Day 142 part two

my Universal collaborators dropped in unexpectedly...

I wasn't planning on doing a part two for the blog today, but the Universe sent a collaborator or two to visit and poke at me.  I am not sure why, but I have been stalling/avoiding working on anything...I am glad they came by.

Remember this guy from back in February (and a bit earlier)?

I had always thought of him as a wolfish guy who had stepped out of the shower and had a towel wrapped around him. 

Today the collaborators showed me that I was on the wrong track.  This is really a grammy wolf/bear-creature. 

I had this piece of thin cardboard outer packaging from something or other in my reuse it bin.  It fit perfectly around her and was the perfect length for a skirt.  How about that?

I laid out aluminum foil, laid down the cardboard and put down two flat layers of plaster cloth (all one piece).  I flipped it over and smoothed the edges over and repeated the steps.

Then I quickly picked up the double-sided piece of plaster cloth'd cardboard and wrapped it around her and put on a triangle or two of plaster cloth to secure it enough to work on it.

 

This is how it looked right after securing the skirt.

 The top needs to be filled in for support.  

 

I also noticed that there was a rather prominent dip in her right rear...that had to be built up...quickly. 

I looked around my table and found this plastic bag.  I wadded it up and it seemed to work pretty well.

I secured it with plaster cloth triangles and held them in place for a second or two, then I added on two leftover pieces of the same lightweight cardboard to smooth everything out and plaster cloth'd over that.

And look -- it worked!  It looks pretty even to me.  She is also taking on a grammy kind of shape.

She is going to need arms and I need to figure out what she is doing...if anything.

 Here she is taking her place on the drying rack.

2012/365 - Day 32

four small projects, one blog post

Although I have been reunited with some of my television shows, I still don't have a dvr back yet (arrives tomorrow -- fingers crossed) and that means if I am to watch anything, I have to watch it in real time...how quickly I became used to recording everything and fast forwarding through commercials and saving shows for later, more convenient times. I totally forgot what it was like to not be able to back up or pause something I am watching.

SO -- I wanted to work on a few smaller projects and blog about it so I can be done for today and settle in front of tv for the evening.

1. addressing the legs on the wolf-ish guy wrapped in a towel



I needed to decide what to do with this guy's legs...I kind of wanted to leave them as they are -- wood and old debris -- but the old debris is really sharp.

















I also need to fill in the gaps between the body and the legs.










This is the sharp stuff...I took the wolf-ish guy downstairs and tried to sand the old debris but it is really thick and old and just a tad scary...best to cover it up.
















I started to lay the plaster cloth down, trying to be careful on the inside of the leg so that it didn't get too thick to work with.



Then it hit me -- duh!...












...these legs screw right off!

I could make them smooth and thin on the inside sections because now I could easily reach everything.















a leg, setting up enough to move it











When the legs were dry enough to touch I screwed the one back on and set the wolf-ish guy on my desk to dry.













2. further de-creep-i-fyin' the canid

Okay...this guy is somewhat less "Mr. Creeping Me Out" than he used to be, but he still needed work.


Part of the problem is that now that I have built up parts of his face his eyes are too sunken and small.







Ta-daaaa...plaster cloth eyes.

















Again...he still needs quite a bit more work. I am not sure he will remain some sort of canid...we will have to see how things turn out.














3. giving the dream beast eyes

Oh. My. Gosh. I cannot believe how adorable this guy is!




















AND he is very, very flirty!













I love his eyes.












He still needs ears...and maybe a tail.















I hope I don't wreck him!












4. revisiting an old "save it for later" project from last year

When I was making Chime Cat for the "Come Play With Me" show at Paint Creek Center for the Arts last year this guy was also under consideration...but Chime Cat took waaaaay longer than I anticipated.














This guy's base is one of those Fisher Price roly poly chime balls.

I set it aside for later back then because I couldn't figure out the balance of it.
















Not that I can now, but I am more willing to work on it now.


















I love the sounds this ball makes...very ethereal.














I originally bought the ball for my niece when she was very young, probably in 1981 (or so). Now I have it again.

365 Day 170

guys get eyes and a bearish creature gets more roughed in

Today I cleaned up the overspray on the "eyes" I made yesterday. I really like them. Some of these plaster cloth guys will get glass eyes and some will just have painted on eyes because their faces are smaller.


one of the green eyes with the overspray














it cleaned up better than I was hoping for!















this wolfish guy will get the orange/green eyes













placing the eyes...which is left and which is right?



















he's getting some personality now

















this is an I-don't-know-what-yet...cat/owl creature














hmmm...I still don't know...but I like him!

















and the bear with the twirly sprinkler thing crown gets roughed in ears and plaster cloth'd all over his head

















this is my first really really sculpted plaster cloth guy...most of my other guys have had pretty flat faces and really round heads












it is a good thing that these are made up creatures (not specific animals) because I can maybe have a little more leeway on the shapes















Well...now I am off to work on my relief carving for tomorrow's class. I am not sure how much actual carving I will do tonight but I will be trying to imagine the background for the fox woman creature. I may do some more drawing in my sketch book, too. I am eager for class tomorrow evening!