Faux Tesla Coil Project Part 12-Making a Cat Armature

My last post showed the wire armature for the cat.  I'm starting with with the wire armature here for the sake of clarity.  I also have an experimental technique that I want to try out on this cat, but I'm getting ahead of myself.  Let me start from the beginning.

I started out by making a wire armature for the cat.  I used a bit of scrap of copper wire to make the armature.  Actually, this is a case of don't do what I do, do what I say.  This copper strand wire was not really substantial enough for an armature.  As a general rule, I would use an 18 or 20 gauge steel wire.  It is a lot stiffer and holds its shape better.  However, waste not, want not, so I used the scrap that I had available. The armature starts with a short piece for the neck and is bent and folded to form a body, legs, and tail.  Once I had a basic shape, I added heavy duty masking tape to help the wire hold its shape.

I made a ball of aluminum foil for the head and stuck it onto the wire neck.  I used a bit of glue to keep the head in place.  I used some tape to help keep the head in place while the glue dried.  Next I fleshed out the body using aluminum foil and tape.  Now the armature has some basic catlike shape.  That is all that is needed at this point.  The detail will be added in the layers of paper mache' and paint.

The cat now has two layers of paper mache'.  The method is strip paper mache', but the pieces were torn into small squarish pieces rather than long strips.  It needs a third layer before painting.  The first layer was just a layer to get the aluminum foil covered.  Usually I add a little white glue over the armature to help the first layer stick better.  This time I tried something different.  I used an archival spray adhesive rather than painting on the glue with a brush.  It worked fairly well. (This cat is very small.  I don't have any input at this time on how it would work in a larger piece.)  I added the detail of the laid back ears in the second layer.  A third layer is necessary to ensure that the ears are well anchored to the piece.  It is in this third layer that I am planning to experiment with a technique that I have never tried before. 

I try to experiment with some technique in each piece.  Each experiment adds something to my skill set.  By experimenting with the new technique in only one section, if it does not work out, then I only have to recreate a small portion of the piece.  I have a book called Newly Revised Recipes for Art and Craft Materials by Helen Roney Sattler.  It is an older book that I bought used.  (You can pick up these older materials books for a song.  I paid more for the postage to deliver the book than I paid for the book.  They are fairly inexpensive because these days people would rather go buy the material ready made than make it themselves.)  It was in this book that I found my experimental mixture.

For the cat, I want to try a new clay recipe for the final layer.   The book has a recipe for making clay out of dryer lint.  Yes, dryer lint.  Since I have never made it before, I really have no idea how it will turn out, but I am imagining some sort of grainy texture.  I'm hoping that it will give the cat more of a furry appearance than strip paper mache'.  Well, I'll see what happens.  I was actually hoping to have the layer on by today, but it was very rainy yesterday and it took the paper mache' longer to dry.  It was still too damp to add another layer.  So, next post will show the cat with a layer of dryer lint clay.