Folk Art Pig Armature Part 2- Photo

A note for first time blog readers:  I am making this folk art pig for a burner art project.  That means the  intent of this project is to create a piece of art that will be burned eventually.  (See previous posts to read more on burner events.)  Due to the nature of the project, the armature is being developed without using metal or wire.  This accounts for the unusual armature for this piece of folk art.

Last blog post I showed how I made the ribs that will form part of the internal support for the piece.  This post shows the actual development of the armature.  I held the slightly flexible ribs together with a strip of poster board.  The first strip was taped to the table with masking tape to help the ribs stand upright.  Once they were upright, I taped a another strip of poster board to the top so the ribs were held in place.

Once the ribs were attached top and bottom I used strips of poster board to weave a basket using the common over and under method of weaving.  Anyone who has ever made a potholder on a loom will know what I mean.  I was able to remove the tape that was holding the ribs to the table once a few strips were woven.  After weaving each strip I would tape the strip either lengthwise or crosswise at each rib.  Every five strips, I criss-crossed the strips with tape between each rib to give the strips some extra support.  This will help hold the weight of the paper mache later in the project.  I continued weaving until I had a basket opened at one end. The other end was woven together and taped closed to form a rounded shape.  Guess which end of the pig that is going to be.

I will end the post here for today.  I also wanted to add a tip of the day related to this section of the armature.

Tip of the Day:  Not all masking tape is equal.  Know which type of masking tape you need for your project.  There are low tack, low residue masking tapes used by artists and house painters.  There are also heavy duty masking tapes for other projects that need more hold.  When making an armature, you want to make sure you have heavy duty tape.  Lower tack tapes will not hold and eventually will start to separate from the poster board.