365/2013 - Day 38

plaster cloth stuff

I had several sessions in the temporary plaster cloth studio today.  I needed to work on stuff and get this blog entry posted because Ruth is coming over tonight to work on our pages for the house book in our ATC group.

First, two guys got the eyes I made yesterday.

the first eye

the second eye -- I liked this one better

pulling the first eye back off, scraping down to the bottom and popping the eye loose

there...that's better...they are pretty close to the same shape

he looks a little cross eyed in these photos but in person he is really cute

this guy is hard for me to photograph today -- too much stuff on the table

Next I decided I wanted to do something with the original "studio snake" head that has never become the Studio Snake yet.

 
This guy is just about 5 feet long -- the other snake is longer.  

Last, I went back in and plaster cloth'd a few items onto the snake.  I have a story in my head about it and I wanted to give this a try.  I am not sure if I like how it is looking yet.  It either needs more things or just a couple.  Not everything I tried worked because it either stuck too far off of the snake or the details were lost in the plaster cloth.  I am disappointed with the zipper right now -- it was the first thing I tried.  I will figure it out.

He looks happy to finally be in the process of becoming a whole snake.

2012/365 - Day 8

experimenting with color combos and paint textures/differences


This is what the Studio Snake was made for -- to test out various color combinations, see the differences in the paints I have on hand, see how the paints coat...and to try out techniques...all before I commit to something for a finished plaster cloth guy.





Here is the Studio Snake's uncolored head, with two coats of gesso.











I thought I had periwinkle paint, but it is actually light ultramarine blue.

Anyway...this is what is on hand today. I was mainly going for color combo mock ups.









And this green isn't actually chartreuse, either -- it is brilliant yellow green. Close, right? I need to choose colors and not look at the names.

I like these two colors together. This is just straight from the tubes and one coat.





Yikes!

I painted the orange straight from the tube and liked it a lot.

The green is an old bottle of craft paint and man -- it was pretty icky. It was glumped inside the bottle and when I stirred the paint it became even more strange...so I put some in a little dish, added a small amount of warm water and stirred
until I couldn't stand stirring any more.

The paint is just so wrecked...it seemed okay, if a bit watery, but man...it went on clumpy and watery in spots and incredibly thick in others. Just really strange. I like the color, though.

Here's the thing. Obviously I prefer the nicer higher quality paints over the craft paints...not that there is anything wrong with the craft paints when they are fresh. I have a drawer FULL of (mostly) older craft paints. I only have a handful of tubes of good paint so far.






When my sister asks me for a birthday shopping list this week I will most likely ask for tubes of paint, plaster cloth and other art supplies...maybe we can go together -- that'd be fun...I can most likely start buying more good paint in colors I like.

And don't you painters even start with me -- don't tell me to mix my own colors. I promise you I am NOT ready for that -- at least not yet. Maybe sometime down the road when I get more confident with painting. For now, I need to be able to count on the colors coming straight from the tube, and being able to go back and grab more of the exact color I used.





Ruth might be coming over later on to work on ATCs for the monthly exchange we go to. I wanted to post early today so that I don't have to worry about meeting my midnight blog deadline.

Man -- this Studio Snake is just so cute. I wish the camera could capture the way it looks. I think maybe if I get someone to take photos instead of me trying to angle the camera to what I am seeing (vs what the camera sees) it will turn out so you can see how sweet this guy is...it has such a puppy face.

UPDATE: I tried using the bigger camera...this sort of shows how cute he is.

365 Day 344

working on a couple of plaster cloth snakes

I spent about an hour and fifteen minutes tonight re-shaping the Studio Snake's nose and face and layering the long-bodied snake's head.





Here they are in their "before" state(s).

















I liked the Studio Snake but the more I looked at the flat part of his nose, the more it bothered me.

I needed to make it rounder...or try to.







I went with my preferred method -- aluminum foil and masking tape.
















Adding on another piece of foil.












And one more.













Then the foil was completely taped. I realized I needed to keep the upper and lower parts separated or I would totally lose the laid-on mouth.












I had to tape the other snake to the table and prop that tray behind him to keep him mostly stable and upright.

Ready to start!








This is the second (larger) eye. These photos are so I can remember how I did this.

There were a lot of dips I needed to fill in and I thought I'd try to just bunch up the plaster cloth and fill in with it...then cover over it with triangles and smooth them out.






It worked pretty well on the other eye so I wanted to document/photograph it on this eye.



Bunching up the very wet plaster cloth triangle and smashing it into the low areas.





The smoothed out triangles.





(This is an odd angle or mistaken camera setting...the nose wasn't flat and tilted in like that.)






Rounded!












Now the long-bodied snake.













Taped to the table...I am also showing myself how his face looked.















This was just a matter of placing and smoothing the plaster cloth triangles...no re-shaping.


















All done (for tonight)!












Ha -- one last look at the Studio Snake's rounded nose!

365 Day 341

workin' on the Studio Snake

The Studio Snake will be a sort of "sampler" for me of plaster cloth ideas and methods and embellishments and paint combinations, etc. I will keep adding pieces to it and eventually join them together and hang them from the ceiling in my studio.


Here is the Studio Snake's head before I made it bigger today.















I added aluminum foil and tried to even out the curves on the sides.















Then I covered the aluminum foil with masking tape.
















Then I added two plastic caps for eyes.

















I used two different sizes of plastic caps because I liked the way it looks.












I picked up three of the Trader Joe's paper bag handles and bundled them together for the mouth.











Then I taped the handles together to make them look thicker.












I put on the eyes first with thinner, smaller triangles of plaster cloth, then started to apply the plaster cloth to the head all the way around.

Next I had to put a layer of plaster cloth on the mouth and do it quickly and then add it to the face before it started to get too stiff. That is why there aren't more photos...LOL

Here I have the head holding down the other end of the mouth so I wouldn't lose the curved shape.








Anchoring the other side of the mouth and waiting for it to grab on so I can continue to move towards the middle of the mouth.












Awwww...he is so cute!

















Another view.













Yesterday I worked on three sections of the Studio Snake's "body".

With this one I wanted to see what the plaster cloth would look like if it wasn't laid down and smoothed out. I also wanted to see what it would look like if it was sort of draped like fabric...if it would hold it's shape.











This is a bunch of plastic caps put on with larger plaster cloth triangles. All of the caps are the same.

By doing this section I learned I needed to take the extra steps and use the thinner triangles to add the caps.












This section was to see how different sizes of plastic caps would work...and what it would take to keep them on because a couple of them overlapped the curve of the tube and had a gap underneath.

I decided I liked the large caps and that is why I used them for eyes on the head.










Here is the Studio Snake drying on the rack.

I really like it.