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.