Day 352 - 365/2014

Day Three Hundred Fifty-Two

Tonight I put the sleeves and hands together for the new hand sewn guy I am working on.  I made and assembled the parts for the hands and sleeves a few days ago and tonight I stitched the cuff edge (well, it isn't really a cuff per se, but I don't know what else to call it) and then I stitched the hand assembly into it and stuffed it with fiberfill.

The assembled parts I made a few days ago...

...tonight were stitched together and stuffed with fiberfill.

365/2013 - Day 326

believe it or not, this took up most of today

I've been thinking about making a creature in a suit.  Today I sketched about it and thought about it and tried things out and I ended up with this so far for the hands and feet which will be made of plaster cloth and then (maybe) Aves Clayshay on top of it...not sure about that part yet.

Everything is still fairly lightweight, the weightiest parts being the wooden pieces on the hands.  I'd still like this to be a hand sewn doll with those parts added, along with a (probably) plaster cloth head.  It will be meant to hang on the wall...so far.

2012/365 - Day 47

new plaster cloth guy

I want to turn this guy into a "wild thing" for submission to an upcoming juried show. I may need to stretch the term "wild"...LOL.


Here is the "before" picture of this kind of sheep-y guy.

He is another one of the group of ten paper tube, wooden plaque and papier mache box guys that was originally made about a year and a half ago when I first started to work with the plaster cloth.

I was trying to experiment with what the plaster cloth would look like if I didn't smooth the edges down...if I just let it go where it wanted to. I wanted it to look like wool or fur or something. So this guy is kinda sorta like a sheep but with a goat's beard...or something.







Today I felt like I needed to trim the back edge and corners of the wooden plaque that the guy is built on. I also needed to cut a thick cardboard tube into legs.










The trimmed parts of the plaque...this guy is going to need a lot of body built onto him...hips, tummy, butt, etc.

















Trying him out on his new legs...rear view.



















I love this guy...such a sweet goofy face.














I wanted to fill his body out and give him a bit of a pot belly. I also needed to build some arms for him.

I used prescription pill bottles and thin wooden strips. I need to tweak him quite a bit, but I am very happy with the way he is turning out...he makes me smile.

And man, I can't believe that the arm came out as solid as it did -- the part that was made from scratch, that is...where it attaches the pill bottle to the body.









Building the second hand...I was mildly stressed at first that the hands aren't exactly symmetrical -- but this is a made up creature...and he is supposed to be wild...who knows what his hands are supposed to look like? Sheesh, Took.













This guy is just cracking me up...I love him!

I am also kind of amazed he is standing and balancing (so far).

365 Day 136 -- part three (wow!)

wow -- part three -- I must really like this stuff!

I made this cat base about a month ago I think. Then I didn't use it. But I like it...and I like this new plaster cloth enough to get back into it again for the third time today!

That involves getting wet, getting plastery up to my elbows (almost) in my plaster shirt, getting plaster under my nails, having pruney & plastery fingertips, needing to dispose of the water carefully (not dump it down the sink), all that good stuff.

But you know what? I REALLY like this new stuff and I REALLY like working with plaster cloth.






As usual, I am not sure what this will end up being or what its purpose is yet...but it is cat-ish.















Cat-ish guy with one coat of plaster cloth...his "dear paws" are next to him on the grid.


You know, I think that is the part I love the most when I make a cat guy -- making the paws -- I have to hold them and touch them and smooth them and shape them so much it is like I am holding hands with the cat...the same thing happened with Chime Cat.