Paper Mâché Owl Part 15 - Finally Starting the Paper Mâché

It has been another busy week, but at least it has been busy in an enjoyable way rather than a good way rather than a stressful way.  However, that has left me a little behind in working on my project.  At least there has been a little progress.  I have started to put paper mâché on the beak and feet.

I have two layers of the paper mâché added onto the beak.  I used a sharp pick shaped like a dental tool to push the first layer under the feathers of the beak.  The second layer was pasted onto the feathers in order to give the layer a better hold on the cardboard. 

So far, I only have one layer on the feet.  The feet were more difficult than the beak.  I was trying to paste paper on the feet while keeping the rest of the bird free from the paste.  Both the owl and I were standing on our heads at some points while trying to keep clean.  The feet look bigger even with just one layer of paper mâché on them.   

At least I made some progress on the project.  I don't know if I will have much time to work on the owl this week.  Spring has brought on a slew of new activities.  Trying to keep up with it all has left me feeling like I have been shot out of a cannon; rushing headlong from one event to the next.  I expect to finish up the paper mâché  within a week.  Then it will be onto painting the figure.

In case you missed the previous blog post, I switched my plan from covering the whole owl in paper mâché and am planning on painting the rest of the owl.  Many of my family and friends who have watched my progress think that I should only use paper  mâché  on the beak and feet rather than the whole owl.  I am not so sure that is going to work, but I thought I would give it a try.  If things do not go well, I can still go back to the original plan of covering the entire owl in paper mâché.  If worst comes to worst, and the cardboard starts to curl, I can tear off everything back to where I waterproofed the carcass and begin again from there.  I really doubt it will come to that.  When making an experimental project, it is good to have a Plan B and even a Plan C though.

Check back next Tuesday for the next post on this project.