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| Square jaw needs correcting. Photo 1. |
Today I am blogging about a repair I needed to make to my
folk art pig. When making the lower jaw
for the pig I did not have the shape of the jaw quite right when I made the
armature. The cardboard armature should
have been more rounded. As I added more
layers of paper maché to the jaw, it exaggerated the original error. The edge of the jaw developed some very
square edges. I finally decided I just
could not live with it. So I took the
time to make the correction.
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| Layers of paper mache. Photo 2. |
I used a craft knife to cut the square edges back to a
point where I could reshape the area. I
cut on both the right and left sides of the jaw. The second photo shows one of the holes. It also gives you a cross section view of how
many layers of paper maché have been used to create the jaw.
Once I had the hole smoothed out, I placed a scrap of
poster board up to the whole and traced around the edge. Next I cut out the tracing, leaving a small border. (Photo 3)
The cardboard was taped over the hole with masking
tape. (Photo 4) After that I covered the area with paper
maché.
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| Repair patch. Photo 3. |
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| Taped patch. Photo 4. |
Since I had a small batch of paper maché mixed up, I
decided to begin work on the eyes. The
eye ball is a one inch diameter Styrofoam ball cut in half and covered with
paper maché. The eye ball by itself makes me think of an
alligator’s eyes. (Photo 5) The eyes don’t
start to take shape until some more structure is added. I built up the brow ridge and the cheek bone
beneath the eye with small bits of rolled up newsprint and tape. (Photo 6)
At the point photo 6 was taken, there were more layers of tap on the pig’s
right eye (his right) than on the left.
Building up the layers is a process and I wanted to show how a single
layer can make a difference. In later
layers I will add they eye lid. At the
moment the pig looks a little googlie eyed, but that is really just an optical
illusion created by variations in the darkness of the news print. The eye balls are actually aligned. At the moment, the pig seems a little fierce
but additional work on the eye will make his expression a little more
complacent. I’ll post more pictures of
the eye as things go along.
I don’t think the pig will actually look like a pig until
it gets ears and a tail. However they
will be the last items added as they are the most fragile pieces.
Next blog, I will be adding legs to the folk art pig.
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| Styrofoam ball eyes. Photo 5 | . |
Tip of the Day:
Layers of Paper Maché
When laying down layers of paper maché it is usually best
to add two layers then allow it to dry completely before adding more
layers. Two layers will usually dry completely
overnight. You can add more layers, but
it will take longer to dry. If too many
layers are added at one time, there is a possibility that mold can set in
before the layers are dry. Mold will
destroy a paper maché piece. Once mold
gets started it will continue to eat its way through multiple layers of
paper. The color of the mold can bleed
through paint.
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| Built up ridges. Photo 6. |
There is some hope of salvaging a piece that has mold
growing on it. One method would be to
cut out the moldy piece and replace it with new paper maché. At times starting with completely new paper
maché is really not feasible. I have
treated a moldy area by wiping the mold off the area and scraping off the top
layer or two. (Make sure to wear gloves and mask while doing this!) Then I saturated the layers with 91% rubbing
alcohol. Next I set the item in front of
a fan and left it with the fan blowing on it until the area was completely dry. It worked.
I did not have to scrap the item and start over. All in all, it is better to add only a layer
or two at the most in one sitting and to let it dry than to try to deal with
the mold afterwards.
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