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.