Homemade Paper Mâché Clay and Carousel Animals Have Their Saddle Blankets-Pictures - Part 51

I will be showing pictures of the animals with their blankets as I go along with the post.  I don't seem to have as much control over picture placement as I had in previous years.  The animals only have their blankets at this point.  I will also write about how I was able to work with putting the clay on the animals while leaving the hole for the poles for the carousel animals clear (and keeping my fingers out of the clay on one side while working on the other side).  The saddle will be added separately in the next week or so.

 I made my homemade paper clay this week.  I started with one recipe, but found it was too coarse for its intended use.  So, I started over.  I generally make my own paper clay rather than buying a premixed clay or a bag of clay mixture to which you add just water.  These mixtures are expensive (between $7.00 and $30.00 or more depending on size and type) and making paper clay costs so much less (under $2.00 when you consider the cost of the glue and tissue paper).  It is very easy to make and can be made fairly quickly depending on what method you use.  I will get to the method in just a paragraph or two.

I just want to say before I get started that it is not a case of one recipe being right for every project.  Which type of paper mâché method you use depends on the individual project.  Some clays can be made in larger batches and can be kept in the refrigerator for several days; others can only be made in smaller batches and used immediately.  For this project, I needed rather small amounts because of the small size of the animals and because I generally have to work on tight time schedules. I chose this clay because I wanted the blanket to have a cloth-like appearance once it is dry.  

One more thing before I get started, I have been working with paper mâché since I was about seven years old, so sixty plus years ago.  Having worked in it for so long, I rarely measure ingredients.  I work with it until I say, "that looks right."  I have tried to make some measurements for explaining my clay process to help readers who may wish to try it.  It is not exact and you may need to add a little of this or that to get it to the consistency you desire.

So on with the process.  To make this clay I used toilet tissue, water, and white multi-purpose glue. That is all that is in it.  I started by deciding how much toilet tissue I needed.  I was working in small batches, and each batch made about enough to make saddle blankets for two animals and have a little left over to experiment (play) with.  By the time I had completed the second saddle blanket the clay was getting a little tacky.

How did I measure how much toilet paper?  I grabbed a roll of septic safe toilet tissue, (it breaks down faster) held the loose end in one hand and the roll on a finger of the other.  I unrolled the paper until I could spread my arms no further.  That came to thirteen sheets at a time.  I did this four times, so fifty-two sheets.  Then I said that looks about right. 

Next, I ripped each length of sheets into pieces two squares of
toilet paper each, stacked them into pile. Then working four of the two squares at a time I ripped them downwards into about four or five strips.  After that I would grab a set of strips and pinched the strips into about half-inch (approximately 12.7 mm) pieces until I had my container filled with bits of tissue.  Once that was done, I added about two or three Tablespoons (about 15 ml. per Tablespoon) of water and mashed it in with the paper.  At this point I only wanted it to be damp.  Squeeze any excess water out of the paper.

I will note that you could have done put this in a blender with plenty of water, but you have to be careful.  Even toilet tissue has a grain.  If you leave the strips too long, they could wrap around the blade and bind up the blender.  Also, cleanup could be problematic.  You don't want the paper clinging to the blender to go down the drain during cleanup.  

Once the paper was damp, I crumbled it up into small bits between my fingers.  As you can see it greatly reduced in volume.  To that pile of damp paper, I added about three Tablespoons (approx. 45 ml) of white multi-purpose glue to the mix and mixed it thoroughly by squeezing it with my hands.  Note: I was wearing gloves.   Once the glue worked in, the mixture will be a little dry and crumbly.  Add some water at no more than a half-teaspoon (about 2.5 ml) at a time and work it in thoroughly until the clay is completely mixed.  If you add too much water, squeeze out the mixture and add more paper or glue as needed.  You will know it is right when there are no more odd bits of paper and it looks smooth. 

This makes a very soft clay.  I put it between two small sheets of freezer paper and rolled it with my clay rolling pen.  Once it was flat, I cut shapes to size using a story stick rather than getting my clay tools and ruler covered in paper clay. Once the clay hardens it will be difficult to get it off the tools.

In case you are not familiar with a story stick, it is an ancient construction technique used at a time when many people did not read or write.  The foreman would figure out what size something needed to be and mark it on a stick so that people that did not know how to read and measure accurately could make accurate cuts.  In this case my story stick is just a wooden craft stick.  One end is marked with a dot so I would know which end to use to begin the measurement.  The mark closest to the dot is the length measurement in this case.  The mark further from the dot is the width measurement.

With the clay still on the freezer paper, I cut a three rectangles. one for one side of the animal and across its back.  The clay is very soft and when you try to pick it up the shape will deform.  That is okay.  I wanted it soft so that I could sculpt it and smooth it out easily.  I found that a bit of an old file folder slid underneath the clay could lift it off the paper without changing the shape too much.  I used my story stick again to determine where to place the clay and smeared some full-strength white glue on the area, then added the rectangle and shaped it as I wanted.

After the first rectangle was placed on the animal, I would dip my story stick into some water and smooth the clay.  Once it was fairly smooth, I went over it again with a diluted glue mix of fifty percent water and fifty percent white glue for a final smoothing and to make sure that the clay was saturated with the glue.

When adding clay to the second side, I put a dowel through the hole that the carousel animals' pole will go through.  I could hold onto the pole and brace my thumb against the animals' leg which kept me from putting my fingers on the wet clay (most of the time.) on the side I had just worked.  Sometimes I had to rework an area.  I picked up another rectangle and added the glue and clay to the second side.  

Once I had the side pieces smoothed and shaped as I wanted, I would add the third rectangle to the back of the animal using the same method.  The main thing to remember when working on the back is that the clay must stay clear of the hole that the pole will go through.  You do not want any glue or clay in that area because once it is dry it could be difficult to insert a pole through the hole.  If glue had dripped down into the hole clean it as quickly as possible.  In the worst-case scenario you could scrape it out after it dries with a small file.

I also added the belly strap using more or less the same method.  The clay is so soft that it did not want to roll out into a narrow cylindrical (snake) shape.  It kept coming apart, so I did the best I could set it into place and then shape and smooth it as needed.

The animals and their accessories will still need sanding before they are painted.  The clay areas are smooth and dried to a hard finish without cracking.  It takes about two or three days for this clay to dry, so they will need to be braced in a way that nothing is touching the clay during the drying phase.  It is probably best not to touch the clay for at least two days.

The clay for the saddle will be made the same way.  I did not make the saddles at the same time because the clay would have been too thick.  With this moist type of clay there would be a possibility of mold developing.  I thought it would be better to make them as a separate piece.  Keeping the pieces separate will give the saddle more definition.

This is the second horse.  The mane is shaped differently from the other horse but otherwise the pattern is the same.  While I was thinking about how to make the saddle and wondered how I should make the stirrups.  For inspiration I turned to some porcelain carousel horse statues that a friend had recently given me.  They are absolutely beautiful.  To my surprise, I noticed something that I had not paid attention to before.  None of the saddles had stirrups.  They are so ornately cast and painted that I had not even realized that the stirrups were not there.  I think I am going to make the saddles the same way.  It saves a lot of work.  I am not sure how I would make stirrups that small.

This rabbit is the final carousel animal.  He is my least favorite of all the animals.  I originally made six animals, and planned to have two rows of animals, but had to back off that idea when I realized just how large this would make the carousel platform.  Other than plopping it in the center of my living room rug, there was no place in my home with enough space for it.  I had to downsize it to have somewhere to put it.  

My final animal was a cat.  I would rather have used the cat than the rabbit, but it did not work out.  With a single row of animals, the cat was so long that its tail was hitting the nose of the animal behind it.  I either had to remake the cat with its tail in a different position or go with the rabbit.  I chose to go with the rabbit because I did not want to have to start over on the cat.  I hope the rabbit looks better once it is painted.  If I find I cannot live with it, there will be another cat to make.

There is still plenty to do on this project.  Once the saddles are finished, I will start working on the bridles, which will be a completely different method.  I will get into that in a different blog post.  After that, everything will need to be given a good sanding.  (Have I mentioned recently that I really hate sanding.).  Once the sanding is complete, I will be painting the animals and staining the poles for the animals.  Even though there is still much to do, it feels as if the end of this project is coming closer.

Check back next Monday or Tuesday for the next blog post.

  

Starting to Make My Paper Clay - Part 50

The painting and sealing of the carousel's column and platforms are complete.  I estimate that it took about nineteen hours of direct working time to complete that section of the project.  Each piece of the carousel has two, and sometimes three layers of paint and two layers of acrylic sealer.    I don't have a lot of patience when it comes to watching paint dry.  It was also a case of having to have a section of time large enough to get in the studio, get set up, paint a section, and clean up. It was frustrating to have that part of the project drag on for so long.  But at least that section of the project is complete.  In a long-term project, you have to celebrate the milestones.  It is what keeps you going instead of giving up,

So now I am moving on to the next big section of the project.  This part of the project is about using paper clay to make the saddles, saddle blankets, bridles, and the ribbon and floral decorations that will go onto the animals.  Hopefully much of this section will go fairly quickly.  Or at least more quickly than the section of painting the platforms.  

I am adding this old photo of the animals just so people

could remember what they look like currently.

I am ready to start making my paper clay.  Yes, I make my own.  Many people wonder why I start from scratch rather than buy some ready-made and usable right out of the package.  Part of that is because if I made it myself, it feels more like my creation.  The other reason is cost.  An eight-ounce package of paper clay costs about ten dollars (US).  A one-pound package of bulk mix that just calls for adding water costs about twenty-five to thirty dollars.  If I make it myself, from products that I already have at home will only cost about three dollars.  As the old saying goes, "A penny saved is a penny earned."

So, I spent a morning unearthing my book on craft materials that I have had for many years.  It is called Recipes for Art and Craft Materials by Helen Roney Sattler, published in 1973.  It is a fairly comprehensive book that covers making your own glues and pastes, paints, clays, casting compounds and other things as well.  I am sure that I could find these same recipes on the internet, but for some of the recipes, people would have to be aware that they existed before they knew to look them up.  We have become so habituated to just walking into a store and picking up a product that we no longer even think about making it or how much it costs just to buy it ready mixed.

I plan to be using a recipe for making an extra soft paper mâché pulp using tissues (or toilet paper) and glue for the blankets and saddles which will be the first step.   I will let you know how well this clay rolls out.  If that should prove too soft, then I will go on to another recipe that is a firmer clay. 

Anyway, the materials are gathered and this week I hope to have at least the saddles and blankets added to each animal.  Each piece must be cut to fit for its particular animal.  Differences in size will require a custom fit around the pole.  I will have new photos next week.  If all goes well, I may even start on the bridles, which will have a different type of process.  

Check back next week on Monday or Tuesday for the next blog post.

Painting Finished - Sealing Underway -Next Up Paper Clay

 I have finished the painting on the body of the carousel.  I have to admit; it took much longer than I thought it would.  Even sanded, the plywood was a bit rough.  Everything needed two coats of paint.  Even then, it seemed a little dull.  I was beginning to wonder whether I should have used some other type of paint.  However, once I started adding the sealer, the color came to life.  It has a wonderful glow to it now.  I am very pleased with it.  Sorry, no picture of it yet.

A satin exterior sealer was what I used on it.  Not that I plan to take it outside, this is what I had on hand.  At first, I had considered a gloss sealer, but I did not have enough to do the whole carousel.  I had some spar varnish, but that tends to yellow over time.  That may actually have made the carousel look like an antique as it aged, but I am not sure how it would look in the long run.  So, I used an exterior grade of acrylic sealer.  It gives the piece enough shine that it looks as if it has depth to it.  Of course, every inch of it needs at least one two coats of sealer.

I am about one-third of the way through sealing the project.  If the weather had cooperated, I might have finished it this week.  It has been hot and muggy and many days with a heat index of over one hundred. When it was not beastly hot, it was pouring rain.  My weather radio kept blasting multiple alerts for severe storm warnings day after day.  I call it my daily dose of terror.

 The humidity affects the drying time.  I needed ventilation for this segment of the project, and it was too humid to open the windows.  I had to paint a small area and then vacate the room because the fumes are not a good thing to be inhaling.

Now that I am coming up on the end of the sealing, I am starting to look at my options for making paper clay.  In past projects, I have made my own paper clay, and I expect to make it for this project also.  Years before the internet came to be, I purchased a book on craft glues, clays, paper mâché. and handmade paints.  I was planning on using one of those recipes because I am familiar with those processes.  There are plenty of recipes online as well for those that don't have access to old books.  I suggest looking at Jonni Good's The Ultimate Paper Mâché website.  There are recipes there.  She also sells books on Amazon.  Another good reference would be to watch Dragonfang's YouTube posts on making paper mâché pumpkins.  They both have a lot of good information.  (A word of warning if you are searching for Dragonfang.  There is also a Marvel character called Dragonfang, and your searches will bring up pages on character.  Search using the name Dragonfang along with the terms paper mâché and pumpkins.)

This week I will be choosing my clay recipe.  I am leaning towards one that uses toilet paper as a base for no other reason that it is already white.  Paper clays made using newspaper are a depressing gray color.  It needs extra coverage with gesso before painting.  

Next week I hope to have some photos of the clay and the first layer of the accessories for the animals.  

Check back next Monday or Tuesday for the first pictures.

More on Carousel Painting - Part 48

 I was setting up the carousel this morning to take a picture for the blog when I realized that I had not painted the gold rim on the base that holds the rotating platform.  I also noticed that the floor that the animals will be on needed some touch ups.  I had painted it while it was upside down in order to keep it off the plastic I was using as a drop cloth while painting it.  When I turned it over the edge that was underneath did not get as much coverage as I would like.

So, it looks like at least another day or two of painting before this is finished.  I wish I had more time to work on it, but this is a hobby and the rest of life has more claims to my time.  I was particularly disappointed because I had planned to start getting out the stuff and starting to make the paper clay for the animal's decorations.  Barring an emergency, I will be starting on it within a week.  

The wooden cut out of a witch and cauldron tacked up on the wall is my inspiration for my next Halloween piece.  I always like to keep another project in mind while finishing up a project.  Having another project lined up helps keep me motivated when a project I am working on is dragging.  I need to finish it so I can get on to the next one.

I find that when I complete a project that I first experience the glow of excitement that comes with successfully completing something.  That is followed by a letdown as I see how much better I could have made the project.  While viewers of a project tend to look at the whole thing at once, I look at the project inch by inch and see all the things I might have been able to do differently.  Once I have gone beyond those feelings, I sometimes have a sense of emptiness, as if the muse has gone and I am alone.  (Actually, muse is a very old term used for an inspirational spirit that is motivating a male, the word damon < yes, spelled with an a > is used for an inspirational spirit motivating a female, but not as many people are familiar with that term.)  I have in the past experienced this feeling of inspiration having left, and it is actually emotionally painful.  You worry that inspiration may never come again.  I keep some future project in mind just so that I have something to focus on so I will not have to feel as if I have no ideas about what to do next.  I may not even start with that project if another idea pops up, but at least I have something to keep ideas churning.  

Anyway, I am looking forward to finally finishing this part of the project and getting on to making the animals saddles, blankets, and bridles.  I hope to be blogging about making the paper clay.  Check back next week on Monday or Tuesday for the next blog post.  

Closing in on a Milestone on the Carousel - Part 47

 I have put in another three hours on painting the carousel.  Painting the carousel has been much more time consuming than I thought it would be. Aside adding a final coat of paint to the top of the carousel platform I gave two coats of gesso to the rims of the top and bottom platforms.  The top edge of the platform has received its first coat of gold paint.  It needs a second and perhaps a third coat of the 14-carat gold paint in order for it to gleam richly.

Regular readers are probably wondering where all the stars are that I was drawing on the stencil I planned to make.  Funny story about that.  The stars are now in limbo.  I was visiting my mother, and I was telling her my plan to use the stars as a means of making sure the top and bottom platforms to line up with the proper holes.  My husband spoke up at that point and said that I did not need to do that.  The screws that hold the top platform to the internal support are set in a pattern and the top will only join the support if the screw holes line up.  Yes, of course they do, so it begs the question of whether or not I need to put stars on the top.  

I guess my main concern is that it might make the carousel look too gaudy.  I want to keep the focus on the carousel animals.  I have decided to hold off on the stars until after the animals are added to the carousel.  If it looks as if it needs more embellishments after that, then I have the plan for the stars more or less ready to go.  I might need to add some more smaller stars to the pattern for the stencil before I cut it.

I was hoping to have the painting finished before this post, but the spare time to work on it just was not there.  It will definitely be finished this week though.  I am so slow these days.  Everything takes me much longer than I think it should.  So, this carousel has been made and painted step by step and inch by inch for however long it takes.

Readers may wonder why I keep changing my mind on things.  That really is the way the creative process works.  Some people start a project with everything worked out in exact detail of what they want to create.  Others, such as I, prefer to have a basic idea of what they want and let the decorative details develop by looking at the piece and asking what wants to be there; letting the space inform me of what it needs.  This allows for an artist to follow flow, which I have found to be essential to creating something that has a special feel to it.  

One more week of painting will finish off that segment of creating the carousel.  Then I can get back to the joy of working on the details of the carousel animals.  Making the animals has been the best part of this project and I am so looking forward to making and adding their decorations and painting them.  That is the last step before putting the carousel together.  It has been a long time coming to this point.  So, hang in there with me readers and I will be on to that shortly.

Check back next Monday or Tuesday for the next blog post.

Painting the Top Platform of the Carousel - Part 46

 I am still painting the carousel.  I know my readers are getting tired of waiting for me to finish this part so I can get on with working on the carousel animals again.  But this is how it is sometimes on a long project.  There is a lot of work that needs to be done and the only way to get to the next section is to just continue to work on it until I get through it.  However, I am very close to completing this part of the project.  The top of this platform is the last piece that needs to be painted.

I need to put one more coat on the top of this platform.  There is a section in the center that did not cover well.  My brush was a little too wet, and the center has an area that did an area that did not coat evenly.  I had hoped to get that last coat of paint on yesterday, but it was very humid and that paint took a long time to dry.  I finally had to stop watching paint dry and just get on with my day.  

I did not want to leave the top painted a plain blue.   At one time I had thought about maybe putting a circus tent like top on it but decided that it was already very tall and I did not want to add any more height to it.  However, I did not want to leave it plain so I thought about how I might decorate the top while the paint was drying.

I also had another situation that I needed to address before I went any further with painting.  Regular readers may recall that earlier on in the project holes needed to be drilled through the top and floor platforms so that the poles for the animals could go through them.  The holes were drilled in both platforms at the same time so that they would match up appropriately.  My husband had the forethought to add a couple of registration marks so that I would have an easy way to make sure that the holes were aligned properly.  Slight differences in where the holes were drilled means that not just any hole would do, but the holes that were drilled together must be together to keep the animals perpendicular to the base platform, floor platform, and ceiling platform.  A small variation could cause the pole to lean slightly, which would put extra torque on the pole.  That could cause a pole to snap.  

The registration marks need to be transferred to the carousel permanently.  If I ever need to take it apart, it would be much easier with the registration marks to put it back together again.  So, the question was how to incorporate them into the decorations without them being overly obvious. I decided that the marks would be painted on, but that each mark would be attached to a small star.  One star would be painted at one point, and two stars at the other registration mark with two lines.  If I paint stars all over the top, the small stars and registration marks will not be as easily spotted.

I did not want to just randomly paint stars on the top because I did not want to paint it and then decided that it does not look right.  That would be a lot of sanding and repainting.  So, I pulled out my pattern that has been utilized many times throughout this project.  If you look closely, you can see some of the stars drawn on it.  I decided it would be better to make my mistakes there where I could erase something I did not like.  Once I get the layout to my level of satisfaction, (Or to my acceptable level of dissatisfaction) I will make a stencil and use that to transfer the markings to the top platform.  It is an extra step, but I try not to underestimate my ability to mess something up at the last moment.  I am more of a maker than a painter.  

There will be at least one more week of watching paint dry, and then I will finally be on to working on the animals again.  Some readers might have wondered why I just kept slogging through the painting rather than stop and work on an animal once in a while.  The answer is that the saddles, blankets, and bridles will be made from paper clay.  I was planning on making my own paper clay.  The clay does not keep all that well, and it would have meant making multiple batches of paper clay.  It would be more work and resources to make multiple batches.  Even though the painting has been a bit of a grind, it was better for me to just make the accessories all at once.  The main thing that you have to remember on a long project is that it is mainly a matter of showing up to do the work.

Check back next Monday or Tuesday for the next blog post.

Sorry, No Progress This Week -Situations - Post 45

 This week has been unusually hot and humid.  We have been under an Extreme Heat Alert for days.  This area has also been under a Code Red or a Code Purple air quality alert for days from wildfire smoke.   It has been too much to do more than try to breathe and stay cool.  I became somewhat dehydrated and was not feeling well.  I did not realize what was wrong until I stopped sweating and started feeling dizzy when the electricity went out for about four hours during a thunderstorm.  

The heat is supposed to drop today and tomorrow.  I hope to have some quality time in my studio this week.  

Again, sorry for not having anything on the carousel to post this week.  Check back Monday or Tuesday for the next post.