Carousel Part 34-Menagerie Animals are Mounted on the Carousel-Photos

At long last, the menagerie animals have been permanently mounted on the carousel base.  I am absolutely elated.  It has taken a long time to get to this point.  I hope you enjoy the photos.

The project is almost finished.  I have all the components of the roof painted and they are ready to be assembled. 

I had hoped to have the roof finished, but it took much longer to paint than I had anticipated.  Not to mention that most of it was painted twice.  I had wanted to have a green roof.  My first color choice was too dark.  The second color was too light.  I just could not get it to the color I wanted.  So I caved in and painted the roof with the 14 karat gold paint to match the base.  I will probably finish the assembly today.  However, it won't be mounted to the housing until after I finish the face plaques that will be placed above the mirrors on the housing. 



My Plan B for creating the face plaques seems to be working.  I will be blogging more about that in my next blog post.  I don't think that they will all be complete, but I expect to have made some significant head way.

Okay, it seems that blogspot is going to give  me a really hard time today.  It will only let me post as many pictures as I have text.  I have been trying for several minutes to get the photos on there buit it keeps deleting the pictures it there is no text near it.  So, I guess I will give a brief recap of the project so far, just to have enough text to post the pictures. 

 The carousel is on a rotating ball bearing base that spins like a lazy susan serving utensil.  The rotating base has only recently been attached to the wooden base.  The fluted wooden base was purchased at my local craft store.  It was basically a craft piece used for making clocks.  On top of the base I made a wooden plank floor from skinny wooden craft sticks.  This floor was sanded, stained, and varnished  to look like a real wood floor.

The supports for the housing are quarter inch poplar sticks.  The walls are balsa wood.  The wooden walls have a couple of layers of paper mache' over them to cover the places where the walls join together.  The walls were then painted in stripes of white and gold.  Mirrors were mounted on the wall to reflect the animals.  I am currently working on some plaques to go above the mirrors. 


The menagerie animals were created from paper mache' over a poster board and toothpick armature.  Each animal was hand made and hand painted. The basic shape of the animals came from a book on carving carousel animals.  The author gave permission for people to use the graphed silhouettes provided that you hand copied the graphs.  I made my own copies, reducing the size from one-eighth scale to approximately one-sixteenth scale.


 The menagerie animals were created from paper mache' over a poster board and toothpick armature.  Each animal was hand made and hand painted. The basic shape of the animals came from a book on carving carousel animals.  The author gave permission for people to use the graphed silhouettes provided that you made your own hand drawn copies the graphs.  (As opposed to photocopying them.)  I drew my own copies, reducing the size from one-eighth scale to approximately one-sixteenth scale. 

Once the silhouettes were made, I traced them onto poster board, cut them out, traced around them to make a second shape.  The silhouettes were supported by small pieces of wood cut from tooth picks.  Then extra strips of poster board were cut and placed between the shapes to give them some depth.  After that the now three dimensional figures were covered in tape to help prevent moisture from the paper mache' causing the shapes to collapse.  The tape was also used to help build up the musculature of the animals.  The menagerie animals were then covered with layers of paper mache' by various methods.  Read back through the blog for specifics on the techniques. When the paper mache' was dry, the animals were painted and varnished.

At last I was able to get all my pictures on here.  Every once in a while the blog platform gives me a problem and I'm not sure why.  Most days it works like a charm.  Anyway, more than an hour and a half into this I have everything on here.

I'm really close to completing the project.  I hope you will check for further blog entries to see the completed carousel.

Carousel Part 33- More Progress on the Carousel

Roof base has paper mache' and has been sanded.

I'm really pleased with the progress I've made this week, although once again there are no new pictures.  I had planned to have new ones, but the progress is more in the nature of things that don't have a lot of visual value.  However, next post will be different.  I plan to have the animals in place by then. 

Rings for roof have been sanded.

The last few days have been spent adding more layers of paper mache' and sanding the completed rings.  Not much to see there, but the rings and spokes are smooth and ready to be painted.  It does not sound like much, but that represents hours of work. 

I have drilled the holes for the poles that run through the animals.  The base of the carousel has been mounted to the spinning platform.  (A note to readers that have tuned into the project later on:  the carousel will rotate on a ball bearing platform.  The carousel will not be mechanized, but will spin with the push of a finger.  This is a folk art carousel.) 

The rotating base has now  been attached to the wooden base.

I had a bit of anxiety at this point.  It was absolutely essential that the holes go in the right place on the first drilling.  I did not want any holes in the floor that had to be patched.  Part of the difficulty was that I could not attach the housing first because I had to turn it over to attach the rotating base.  I could not attach the rotating base first because I then I would be trying to do some precision drilling on a moving base.  So I sat the base on the base and measured and moved it around until it was even on all sides.  Then I used some low tack artist's tape to mark off the placement of the housing.  The tape was helpful not only for marking the spot of the housing, it was also helpful because I could mark mid-point and the exact spot where I wanted the holes for the poles.  For the cat and pig, it was the mid-point, but the poles on the camel and giraffe were not centered on the mid-point of the animals.  The placement for them was slightly off to the right of center.  This helped the animals look evenly spaced around the carousel.  Checking and double checking, (and even triple checking) to make sure that everything was right took another big bite of time.  Thankfully, everything came out okay. 

The rotating base now has a coat of primer on it.  I did not paint it before it was attached because of the possibility of the paint getting scratched whole it was on the drill press.  I plan to gild it with the same 14 karat gold paint that is on the wooden part of the base. 

I made my first attempt at creating the face plaques that will be mounted above the mirrors.  It did not work out so well.  By the time I added layers of clay to cover the base and build up the face, the piece was ridiculously out of proportion to the rest of the project.  The project is so small, that trying to sculpt a face was really challenging.  (Remember, the menagerie animals are only two and a half inches long.)  So I am on to Plan B.  More about that next post.

By my next blog post, I plan to have the animals mounted and the roof construction completed.  The roof may not be attached to the housing because it will be easier to attach the face plaques if the roof is not in the way.  I hope to have the plaques completed, but it depends on how things go.  I also have a Plan C and Plan D just in case Plan B does not work.  I'm so very close to finishing the project that it is hard not be be impatient.  Unfortunately, making tiny faces requires a lot of patience. 
  

Progress Report on Carousel

I don't have any new photos today.  This week has been spent on adding layers of paper mache' to the roof of the carousel.  The rings are completed, but the spoke structure needs two more layers.  Watching paper mache' dry is very much akin to watching paint dry.  You just have to wait until it has dried.  It is possible to dry it faster by heating it in an oven at 200 degrees, but I generally just let it dry on its own.  I've put too much work into it to have it overcook or crack because it dried unevenly. 

Today I will be drilling the holes to attach the base to the rotating mechanism.  I'll also be drilling the holes to mount the animals.  I don't have any worries that the camel and giraffe will stand upright.  I am more concerned about the cat and the pig.  They are mounted higher on the poles to be at the same height as the other animals.  I'm hoping that the base is deep enough that I will be able to drill in far enough that they will stand upright on their own.  If not, it will be another design opportunity.

I may add the housing to the base.  I have decided that I did not need to use the angle brackets to attach the housing to the base.  Construction adhesive should be more than adequate.

This week I also attached the finials to the tops of the brass poles that run through the animals.   The finials are made from brass bead findings with a small ball on top.  The balls are made of bake in the oven clay.  The balls are painted gold.  They were left over from another project, and they made a good topping for the brass beads findings.

Carousel Part 32- More on Creating the Carousel Top

Spokes glued to poster board.

The roof of the carousel is well under way.  I decided that the roof would be open so viewers could peer down into the carousel to see detail that would otherwise be hidden from view.  At one point I had considered having a roof that stepped upwards, but ultimately decided against it because the cuts on such small pieces were very difficult.  The roof will be a set of concentric rings resting on a round roof with eight spokes.

Small pieces of wood on the outer rim.

Prepped for paper mache'.

I first drew a diagram of my roof on a piece of poster board.  The diagram was then glued to two other sheets of poster board in order to give some support for the piece.  The spokes, made of the quarter inch poplar sticks' were cut to shape and size then glued to the poster board.  I cut small half inch pieces of the poplar sticks and glued two rows of them to the inner and outer edges of the rim.  I could have cut the curved pieces of the rim from a sheet of quarter inch thick balsa wood, but I did not have any pieces large enough.  I decided to use scraps rather than purchase more wood.  There was a small gap between the two rows.  I glued a piece of poster board over the top to create a smooth surface.  Once everything was in place, the entire piece was covered in masking tape in preparation for paper mache' layers.  The first layer will go on today.  I am expecting to put on two or three layers.

There will be three concentric rings that lie on top of the main piece of the roof.  I cut three of each ring size from poster board and glued the rings together to form a stronger, thicker surface.  Once the glue was dry, each ring was covered in masking tape.  I have put the first layer of paper mache' on each of the rings.  It can be frustratingly slow to wait for paper mache' to dry.  It has been very humid, which makes it take all the longer. 

Concentric circles will sit on top of spokes.

I expect that most of the paper mache' layers will be on the roof this week.  Then all of the roof will need to be sanded and painted.  Sometime this weekend I expect to drill the holes for the screws that will attach the base to the rotating platform and to place the menagerie animals on the base.   While I'm waiting for the paper mache' and paint to dry I will be working on the face plaques that will be set above the mirrors.  It won't be much longer before this project is complete.


 

Carousel Part 31-Mirrors and Stuff

Fortunately, we did not lose power in the last storm.  The worst of it went south of us.  I'm glad that I am able to get online today.  It was a scary storm though.  South of us the winds were blowing at 85 mph. 

The animals are now secured to the brass poles.  The photo shows them on their sides because I am waiting for the glue to dry. The larger animals are set so that they will have their feet on the ground.  The smaller animals are mounted higher so that their bodies will be at the same height as the bodies of the giraffe and camel.  The poles look a little long right now, but that is because they will be sunk down into the base to hold them upright.  I plan to have a finishing finial on the top of each post.  I will be working on that today.  I have a couple of ideas on the finial, and I'll have to see which one works out the best.

 I have begun securing the mirrors to the housing.  Actually only one is on at this time because the adhesive I used requires a twenty-four hour set up time.  I guess the mirrors will all be in place by then Wednesday.  The height is set to show off the animals. There is room above the mirror to place the small caricature face placques.  I have not started working on them yet.


I have also accomplished some work on the roof.  The pergola shape has been constructed and is ready for paper mache'.  I will most likely work on that tomorrow.
  More on that in the next post.

Carousel-Part 30- Beginning the Roof

I've been working on the roof this week.  It is far from finished, but I have made a good start on it.  The first photo is just the basic frame work.  The quarter inch square poplar sticks are glued down to a base of poster board.  It will have additional pieces of bracing and layers of paper mache' before it is finished.  I will have to experiment to see whether the roof will be all one level or whether it will be stepped higher as it moves towards the center.  I won't be able to hit the hardware store this afternoon or tomorrow.

The photos show the top as it exists right now and how it looks on top of the carousel housing.  None of the pieces are attached to each other at this time.  I need to finish the decorations before I attach the housing to the base.


I did make it to the craft store earlier this week.  I purchased some mirror tiles.  I want part of the housing to be mirrored in order to reflect the hidden side of the menagerie animals.  When I was a child, I rode on a carousel that had mirrors.  I was always impressed by the way the mirrors reflected the horses and made the carousel seem so much bigger.  The mirrors also reflected the onlookers,  carnival booths and vendors, in a dizzying flash as the carousel spun.  I want to recreate that on this carousel.  The mirrors will not extend up the entire housing.  I plan to have further embellishments above the mirrors.

Some older carousels had carved caricatures of faces on them.  Years ago, my mother purchased a round carved face of a Johnny Cake that was from a carousel.  It hung in our home for many years when I was growing up.  My parents moved a couple of times, and I finally realized that I had not seen it in a long time.  When I asked about it my mother said it had been sold; as they upgraded houses, it no longer fit their decor.   I can barely remember what it looked like.  I'm pretty sure one eye was winking.  It may have been sticking out its tongue.  It was just too long ago to remember accurately.  Anyway, I want to make some of those faces that are reminiscent of old carousels and carnival floats.  One face will be hanging above the mirror on each side of the housing.

I plan to make the faces out of paper mache'.  If you have been reading my blog for a while, you will have seen some of my dolls.  (If you would like to see them, check the archives for "art doll").  I'll post more on the face medallions as they are being made.  (Help, I'm starting to embellish and can't stop!  I guess as long as I am making a once in a lifetime piece I might as well do it in a once in a lifetime way.)

Note:  The weather service is forecasting a string of strong thunderstorms perhaps evena Derecho (straight line thunder storms that run 240 miles or more)  from the Mid-west to the Mid-Atlantic.  If you don't see me post for a couple of days, we may be without power.

Carousel Part 29-Progress on the Housing

We had a tropical storm pass through our area this week.  It rained really hard, but fortunately we did not have much wind.  The good news that it brought many of my plans to a screeching halt, so I ended up having a lot of time to spend in the studio.  I actually felt I made a lot of progress this week.

The housing has received two coats of paper mache', been painted with Gesso, and given a coat of gilded stripes.  I chose to do stripes because I went online to look at pictures of carnival signs.  Many of them featured stripes.  I don't recall any carousel that I've seen having stripes, but it seemed to fit with the overall theme.  They won't be as visible once the other decorations are in place.   I'll hold off on talking about the rest of the decoration until I make a trip to the store and finalize my plan.

The photo shows the housing sitting on the base, but it is not yet bolted down.  I have some more work that I want to do on it first.  I need to make a trip out to the craft store and hardware store before I go much further. If I can find what I want locally I will have the housing completed this week.  If not, I'll have to order the materials or change my plan for the decorations.

Other than embellishments, the roof is the next big hurdle.  Then it will be a matter of putting it together.  I'm doing some experimenting with roof ideas:  a lattice type pergola, a pitched roof, cut outs so that you can look down into the carousel and see the animals from above.  I haven't come to a final decision.  Part of the problem is that my building skills are not what they need to be to do something really spectacular.  This may be a case of what I can do that will look the best.  Sometimes I have big ideas, but neither the tools or the skill to pull it off.  However, I've put so much work into this thing that I want to finish it as nicely as possible.  I'm willing to have a couple of fails before I get what I want if necessary.

Art is always an experiment.  What happens when you do this?  What happens when you do that?  The challenge is part of the process.  Never be afraid to experiment.  If it doesn't work, start over and keep working until you get it right.

Carousel Part 28

Progress at last!  From time to time when I'm working on a long term project things just seem to drag.  When things don't go well it can get frustrating.  That generally tells me that I need a break.  After a couple of days, I'm ready to get back into the studio.  I'm back now and finally making progress.

I have rebuilt the housing.  I did take the previous attempt apart and salvaged the square inner braces.  I had to purchase some new pieces for the longer supports.  This time the housing is square, plumb, level, and the right height for the project.  With a lot of work, I may have been able to salvage the previous tower, but I don't think I would have been happy with it.  I've put so much work into this project that I don't want to settle for something that I don't think is going to enhance the piece.   

The outer walls are balsa wood panels.  It was easy to cut, but I have some concerns about how well screws will hold in it.  The housing will be screwed into the base and the top of the carousel will be screwed into housing.  I want to use some angle braces to help hold the housing and roof in place, not just glue the thing on.  The angle braces will be screwed into the harder poplar internal supports.  When I make a piece, I want to build it so that it can stand up to some rough handling.  Once the piece leaves your possession, you never know if someone is going to understand that it should not be picked it up by the roof. 

I'm hoping to find some small brass angle braces when I hit the hardware store next trip.  Otherwise, the angle braces will present a design opportunity.  I had considered mounting them inside the housing, but I did not want to add the housing to the base until I had it entirely decorated.  The floor was a lot of work and I don't want to mess it up.

In an actual building, the panels would be taped with dry wall tape and covered with drywall mud.  I could do that, but I'm not inclined to go out and purchase a large amount of product to cover a few square inches of space.  I am going to cover the housing with a couple of layers of paper mache'.  Once that is sanded and painted, it will be time to decorate the housing.  I'm looking forward to that.  I plan to add the paper mache' layers today.  I don't really plan to do more than two.  Next blog post I hope to have the decorations started.

Bogged Down

Sorry everyone, due to traveling and the attending packing, unpacking, and catch up I haven't been in the studio this week.  Things will settle down for the next month, and I hope to finish the housing and get the carousel together.

I'm having significant Halloween withdrawal.  I have not made any Halloween projects since I started on the carousel.  As soon as I finish this, I'm going to have to start on one before I start on my next walking stick.