365/2013 - Day 41

I did it!

I was pretty wrecked for most of the morning -- yesterday took more out of me than I realized.  I almost didn't work on stuff today but I knew I had to if I wanted to keep on schedule.  I gave myself until around 11:30 this morning and then I forced myself to get to it.  Now I am glad I did.

Even though I only had these two guys left to work on, I knew I was in for another full day.

I figured I was either going to do just a few glass gems on the snake or do a whole lot of them.

 

Then I took a break for a quick lunch and cold pack on my back.  After lunch I felt remarkably refreshed and I knew I needed to dive back in or it wasn't going to get done by my self imposed deadline.

The marsupial guy was started a l-o-n-g time ago and has been many different projects before this incarnation.  His base (under all his current stuff) is where I first tried out using the glass gems under the plaster cloth...only I used the large ones.  Today I knew I wanted to add more of them, I just wasn't sure where or how many.

As often happens, I got set up to work still not sure what I was going to do.  Then he pretty much started making himself (aka my Universal collaborators dropped in).

This time I laid him down flat on the table and laid out the large glass gems.  Instead of using small plaster cloth triangles to attach each gem I used one large piece to cover all of them at once.  I still needed to do the individual stuff, but it was cool to secure them all in place at once.  It seemed to work pretty well.

I worked on his other surfaces with him in the flat position, then I stood him back up to work on his arms and put on some more smaller gems on his chest/neck area.

I wasn't expecting to do anything to his chest but I like it.  Painting all of these guys is something I am not looking forward to.  

Next up -- while all of the plaster cloth is drying -- I need to finish this guy.  He needs a face and to get his head attached...at least.  But that won't be happening tonight!

365/2013 - Day 40

wow -- FULL day of work

I set a plan for myself for this weekend.  I know what I need to do and in what order.  This was a non-stop work day and I am glad it is over because I am really tired now.  LOL.

Today I focused on the Atomic Fireball Happy Hour guy, the manikin, and the marsupial guy.

AFHH needed the most attention.  I had to go and get floor flanges and pipes for his legs.  When I got back home I went shopping in the basement and found the perfect base for him -- I came across a lamp I got from someone's trash pile during the summer.  I took off the electrical parts and knocked the base loose with my rubber mallet.  It took a lot of drilling with the Dremel tool and repositioning the flanges and trying again and drilling again and repeating all the steps but I finally got it right.  Now I just hope that the plaster cloth will cover the flanges -- they are rusting and the color is coming up through the plaster cloth.  It will just take extra gesso and paint but it will all work out.  What I am worried about is getting the plaster cloth to adhere to the flanges and wooden base and not crack at the seams.  I can always cover it all up with paper and then paint but I'd like it to work in the plaster cloth stage.

LOL -- look at all of those holes!

Then it was time to start thinking about if I really wanted him to have fingers or just give him rounded off paws.  I was hesitant to drill the wooden balls and I knew the holes would be close but what the heck -- I gave it a go.  I had a bag of wooden skewers left from another project and they were a pretty close fit with the holes that the Dremel made.

He looks so wacky -- like he has magical waves coming out of his hands or something.  Next it was time to choose a length for those fingers.

I set him aside and moved on to putting a base on the manikin.  He has that built-in base and he does stand up but the way I have him posed he is a teensy bit tippy.  If you just have him on a table top or shelf he is fine...but I was worrying that he could accidentally get bumped in a show setting so I decided to add the extra base.  It makes him more stable.  I am just not terribly skilled at drilling and I didn't want to mess up what I had already done to him.

figures, doesn't it???  just that much too long!

Okay -- time to start the plaster cloth!

The clutter and mess on the table was driving me nuts so I cleared it off, changed the table coverings, and started fresh.

I was not looking forward to keeping track of all of those fingers -- they go in specific holes because my drilling is so uneven.  Then it dawned on me that I could leave them in place and work on each finger, one-at-a-time style.  Duh.

Now...on to blending/covering the flanges and attaching them to the base.

That was a very lengthy process...and a very wet and messy one, too.  I cleaned it up and set the whole thing aside to dry (partially) overnight.  I will try to do more with it tomorrow...at least see what else I can do with it.  For now, I am happy with the progress.

Next it was time to put the two bases together on the manikin...another wet and messy job that will need to sit overnight.

Last (for today) -- I needed to add an inside seam to the marsupial's pouch.  I can't get my hand all the way down to it so I had to poke at it with longer, reachy things...scissors, Sharpie, etc.  I got the seam done but it isn't as smooth as I'd like it.  I may try again tomorrow to smooth it out.  I also worked on the bottom edge of the torso/column.  This is another let it dry overnight project to see if the seam is going to crack.  Again, I can find workarounds for it but I would prefer it to be taken care of in the plaster cloth stage.  Tomorrow I also need to give most of the entire marsupial guy more layers of plaster cloth just to toughen and strengthen it.

 And here are the three guys resting for the night.

Whew -- I didn't feel it at the time, but now I am really glad I stopped work when I did.  I am BEAT.

2012/365 - Day 125

the marsupial gets a start on some shoulders

First let me say that this creature is not meant to look like an actual living sugar glider.  It is a sugar glider-creature...a creature sort of based in part on a sugar glider, but with plenty more thrown in as I/we go along.

I think this piece will be submitted to a show calling for assemblage and collage.  I hope this will qualify in the assemblage section.

Today I gave the creature a start on some shoulders (or something).  I keep getting ideas of what this piece is about the more I work on it.  I will talk more about that part of things as I get a better handle on what is going on...LOL.

SO here are the photos from working on the creature tonight.  I worked on both sides at the same time so I could try and keep them even...and...remember how I was doing it.

The back and the glass blobs are what I am starting to get the story about.

You can sort of see them better in this light and the shoulder area is working its way into the story, too.

Oh -- and I went to Best Buy this morning for a  new cord for my Canon camera(s) to hook up to the computer.  The person helping me assured me that I all needed was a small USB cord (new black one).

I wanted to know what the round/tube thing is on the original white Canon cord that came with my Power Shot...they couldn't tell me. Eventually I would like to find an original replacement cord with the extra thingy on it.

2012/365 - Day 123

ahhh...getting a routine (and rhythm) back

Joan, Leann, Scout and I had a Wednesday Morning at Joan's after what seemed like a really long l-o-n-g break.  It was SO good to get back together again this morning and catch up on everyone's news and get back into our rhythm.

Joan showed us the incredible quilt she is working on.

After that we mostly talked and got caught up. 

This is the waaaaay cool guy that Joan brought me from Montmarte in Paris. 

I added him to my car keys right away!

Awwww...good girl, Scout!

Later in the afternoon I tweaked canvas #8.

I had to fix the neck of the llama/giraffe girl...it was too wide on the area over the horse's nose and was really bothering me.

I added more blue paper to the left of her neck and re-did the edge of her neck with some tea bag edges that I saved from the night before -- good thing I saved them!

I am also noticing that the tea bag edges dry much darker than they are when they go on.

And tonight I HAD to work on the marsupial...I just had to. 

But there were some hitches...

 As you might know from all of my whining, I have a major problem with allergies lately.  Today one of the manifestations of the allergic reaction(s) is that my hands are very swollen.

This was the third glove I tried to put on...you can see that I couldn't pull it down onto my hand all the way and that the bottom ripped while I was pulling it.  This is a small size glove and usually fits like...well, like a glove.

Luckily I also have a box of medium size gloves. The problem here is that the glove is a bit too big.  The fingers are way too long.  That means that the glove bunches at the top of my fingers and I can't smooth the plaster cloth very easily because I can't feel what I am doing and the excess glove material is in the way.

So -- 

This means that I only worked on one of the hand/arm parts.

 

When I sat down to work on this tonight I thought 

I would be putting the plaster cloth on the fingers and hand and wrist areas of both sides...but no.  I soon found that I had to do the entire arm and put it in place so that the fingers would "hold" the pouch.

So I had to cover the whole section very quickly and attach it to the rest of the body...and I really wasn't prepared for that.

This is not what I had in mind, but I think I can work around it.

I couldn't see what I was doing when I was adding the plaster cloth wads to the side and back of the arm.  I had to try to hold it in place and dip/apply/smooth the plaster cloth triangles at the same time.

Considering the balancing act and that I was working blind, I am not too unhappy with this.  I will take tonight and part of tomorrow to think about how to proceed.

But the sugar glider-creature is holding its pouch open, dammit!