Paper Mâché Carousel Animals - Rabbit - Part 19

This week I have been putting the rabbit pieces together to make it into a three-dimensional animal.  In order to do this, I have to do some math.  I am working on one-eighth scale.  The directions I am working from are for wood carving full-size animals and is given in inches.  

Naturally, it starts with dividing the measurements by an eighth.  At this point I change over to the metric system.  I find that I have more accurate measurements by switching to centimeters and millimeters.  Up until the point that I needed to switch to the metric system, I had been doing it the old-fashioned way by using a pencil and paper.  Once I had all the measurements figured out, I head online and use programs set up on the internet to just plug in my numbers and get an instant answer.  It saves time.  

There are more measurements on the paper than I will use to cut the support pieces.  However, they do come in handy later in the process, when I need to know how wide or thick a certain part, such as a leg or the hoof should be.  It is a nice guide, but for the most part, I just keep working at it until I think it looks right.

Once I have my calculations complete, I cut out pieces of corrugated cardboard to the size I need the support pieces to be.  Several of the measurements will be the same, and it is easier to cut one piece and use that to mark the measurements for the rest of the pieces. 

For a quick recap for new readers, I had previously cut out the two rabbit shapes for each side of the animal, glued toothpick supports and then glued the second shape on top of the first to cover the toothpicks.  Scroll back to the previous post for more detailed information or visit the blog at 

folkartbycaroljones@blogspot.com

I start the next part of the process by hot gluing the support pieces to the underside of one of the pieces as seen in this picture.

I have been experimenting with how best to place the supports.  In this case I have glued them to the very outer edge of the shape.  In other animals, I have glued them further into the body of the shape.  Both ways work, but I think that it is a little harder to get the hard edge off the ones that are glued right at the very edge.  

I do not cover the entire edge with the supports.  I just need a few here and there.  

This photo shows the second rabbit piece has been glued onto the supports.  It does not stand on its own.  The legs are not exactly equal, and it has a little bit of a lean to it.  One support that is just below the shoulder seemed to be the main culprit.  I had to snip the support with some scissors and glue it back together.  That helped a little bit.  There is still a little bit of an imbalance, but I think I will be able to correct that at the point that I put the animals on their poles. 

The next step is to cover the supports.  I use a strip of a manilla file folder.  In this case I have marked the strip at intervals because the front of the rabbit is wider than the rear of the rabbit.  The marked lines gave me a little guidance on where to cut for the narrower sections.  

If you look closely, you can see that I have also glued on some bits of aluminum foil to help fill out the hip area.  I wanted to add it on before I started the next step, which will be to cover the entire animal with masking tape.

I need to end here for today.  I still have a few steps to do before the rabbit is ready for the tape.  Check back next Monday or Tuesday for the next blog post.

Paper Mâché Carousel Animals -Rabbit - Part 18

 Today I wanted to show the next step for changing the rabbit from two-dimensional into a three-dimensional animal.  I did not get as far along as I would have liked for a couple of reasons.  First there was the Thanksgiving holiday.  I was busy cooking.  Then, I cut my thumb and forefinger while I was working on this project when my craft knife slipped.  It did not require stitches, but it is hard to use my thumb to hold anything.  My finger is also pretty sore, and I am having to hunt and peck while typing this.  I have been touch typing for many years, and it is difficult to switch methods.  

This is the last animal to be made for the carousel.  I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to starting the next phase of work on the carousel.  I wanted to get all the animals to the next step, which will be drilling and sanding. But, for now, on with creating this animal.  

I expect my readers are getting bored with the repetition of the steps for each animal, but I have been putting the complete process on each animal because new readers are always coming to the blog.  If they are only looking at a post or two, they may be missing steps in how to make the animals.  It is easier if the information for each step is available for them to see.

This photo is where I left off last week.  There are two rabbits for the Romance side (the side facing the public) and two rabbits for the side that faces the center of the carousel.  

The rabbits are cut from card stock.  This project is in one-eighth scale.  The animals are roughly five to six inches wide.  Cardboard boxes would have been too bulky to use in this project.  

The ears are in different directions so that both will be visible when looking at the animal from outside the carousel.  If they were both pointing in the same direction, the second ear would not be as visible for at least part of the time.

This photo shows that bits of toothpicks have been hot glued to one body of each rabbit shape.  Card stock is heavier than paper, but it will still bend and flex.  The glue and toothpicks hold the shape rigid.  Obviously, I am not trying to mimic a skeleton shape here.  I just kept adding a toothpick anywhere the shape wanted to bend.  

The second rabbit shape was glued on top of the shape that had the toothpicks on it.  The toothpicks are completely covered and will never be visible again.  The shapes are now quite rigid and will have enough strength to stand up to the next phase, which is to add the spacers to hold the two sides of the animal together.

Unfortunately, it was during the next step, cutting and adding the spacers, that I cut myself.  Fortunately, I did not drip any blood onto my rabbit shapes.  However, the injury did bring a stop to my crafting for the day.  

My next blog post will be about how measure for the spacers and how to add the spacers and determining their placement.

Check back next week on Monday or Tuesday for the next blog post.  

Paper Mâché Carousel Animals - Rabbit - Part 17

This week I started working on the figure of the last animal that will go on the carousel.  Regular readers may remember that I had at one point said that I was thinking of making this figure a camel.  I changed my mind for a couple of reasons.  The length of the camel seemed large compared to the other figures.  It just looked as if it would be out of scale to the other animals. In the long run, it would also have required me to make a larger base for the carousel in order for it not to look crowded.  This carousel is going to be fairly large, and I did not want to make it any larger.  Not everyone has room to display a one-eighth scale carousel.  

So rather than expand the size of the carousel, I decided to make the last animal a rabbit.  I have plenty of cotton left from making the coats of the cat and tiger.  Having another animal with a fur coat seemed like a good way to use some of that cotton.  

The photo on the right shows my drawing of the rabbit.  It is a little hard to read, but the drawing on the left is the far side of the animal.  The photo on the right is the Romance side of the animal.  Carousel makers call the side that faces the public the Romance side because this is the side that has most of the decorations on it.  Carousel makers generally do not put as much work on the decorations on the inside because it is not seen from outside of the carousel and because it takes so long to make an animal.

The front ear is pointed up, and the far side ear is pointed forward.  That creates an opportunity for the public to see the other ear.  If the ears were in line, it might have looked as if the animal had only one ear.  

The tail is not shown in the plan.  It will be a little round cotton tail.  There was not point of putting it on the drawing because it does not sit on the edge of a side but in the middle.  If I had cut out the tail on the drawing, I would have had a tail on each side.  Not the look I was going for.

The drawing was transferred onto blue card stock.  Regular readers know, but new readers may not know why I used blue cardstock.  The main reason is that I have a large quantity of blue card stock.  Someone had gifted me a mostly full ream of this stuff.  I did not know what I would do with it at the time, but I knew I could find something to do with it.  Other than that, the contrast of the blue on the white background of the plastic covering my work area works well for photographs.

I am a big fan of using what I have on hand.  I try to use up odds and ends of things before I go out to purchase something.  

Once I transfer the rabbit figures onto the card stock, I cut the figures out with a sharp craft knife.  I saved the cutouts of all the animals.  I am not sure exactly what I plan to do with them, but I did not want to toss them out.  They could be used as a stencil in another project.  Or just used for someone to trace around to have their own rabbit to use in a drawing.  I am thinking of children coming to visit that I might need a quick craft for their amusement.  

Sometimes I do crafts with programs for seniors or the disabled, and I think they might enjoy coloring or painting them it as much as the children.

This is as far as I have started on this project.  I hope to have the animal together by next week's blog post which will show the process of turning a two-dimensional object into a three-dimensional object. Regular readers know why there are four animals.  New readers will be able to see the full process of building an animal in the next post.

 Check back next Monday or Tuesday for the next post.

Paper Mâché Carousel Animals - Cat - Part 16

Another week, and four more hours of working on the cat for my carousel.  I have given the cat a second coat of cotton "fur".  This week, instead of trying to complete the process in one sitting I worked on one half of the cat at a time.  That made it a lot less frustrating and easier to handle.

This is a picture of the cat with the second coat of cotton "fur" added.

I used deconstructed cotton balls and a 50/50 mix of glue and water.  There is a learning curve to this method.  What I learned from last week's first layer is that the cotton must be pulled out very thin in order to keep it from forming large damp clumps.  I also learned that the cotton has a grain to it.  As long as I brushed the glue on in line with the cotton shreds it did not clump up as much.  There may be a couple of areas where I may want to add a little more cotton, but for the most part, I am calling this section of the project finished.

After I added the layer of "fur" to each side of the cat, I used the stiff brush I had used to paint on the glue to pound out many of the worst lumps and stipple some texture into the cotton.  Many of the higher bumps will be knocked down when I start sanding the animals, but I think that the slight depressions from the brush pouncing will add an interesting look to the cat when it is painted.

This was a picture of the cat before I added the second layer of cotton.  

The wisps of cotton were so thin that I could still see the print from the newspaper strips through it in most areas.  

The platter shaped object covered in paper mâché strips is not a part of this project.  It was something I was working on while I had some extra paper mâché paste left over from making the cat.  It is not part of this project.  In the future, this platter will be a wall hanging.  More on that in a different blog post.

With the completion of this stage of making the cat, I am ready to make the next animal.  That will be the last animal for the carousel.  I will be so glad to get to it.  Even though each animal is unique, the construction of the animals is pretty much the same.  It gets a bit boring to do the same thing over and over again, but from a production standpoint, it makes sense to get each animal to a certain phase before going on to the next phase of the project.  If I completed the painting of the animals one at a time, I would have to spend multiple days sanding and make multiple batches of the clay used for the decorations.  

Regular readers may remember that I still have to add a tail to the tiger.  I had one idea in mind of how to add the tail but was waiting until I made the clay for the decorations to use on the tail.  However, I have figured out a different way to make and add the tail.  I will add that when I make my next batch of paste for paper mâché strips.  The new way will be lighter and have less of a chance of becoming detached than the previous idea.

After the next animal is complete, each one will get a good sanding.  Then I will experiment with a new clay recipe to add the trimmings.  Each animal will have a saddle and a bridle and decorations of flowers, ribbons, tassels, and/or blankets.  

Check back next week on Monday or Tuesday to see the first look at the next carousel animal.

Paper Mâché Carousel Animals - Cat -Part 15

I have made more progress on the cat I am making for my carousel.  This week I added two more layers of paper mâché to make sure the animal was good and sturdy.  Then I added a layer of cotton to try to make it look like fur. 

When I was making the tiger, I used a cotton clay recipe that I had found online.  It worked, but it was difficult to work with, so for the cat I tried another way of working with cotton that I also saw online.  

It was easier to apply, but I think it will need a second coat.  In some areas it looks like it might have mange.  Some areas covered better than others.

The reason for the change was not only because of dissatisfaction with the previous method but also because I like to experiment with different techniques.  I enjoy trying new ways of doing things.  What I learn can be passed on to my readers.  It helps others if they can read about how different techniques work or what can go wrong before they give it a try for themselves.  Sometimes, there is a learning curve on working with a craft recipe or technique and people would rather know some of the pitfalls before they try it out on a project.  It can be discouraging to work long and hard on a project to have it fail in the later stages of adding finishing touches.  Fortunately, these carousel animals are 1/8th scale, and it is only a minor frustration to have to start an animal over if it did not come out well.

So, on to what I have learned from this project.

This method was just to pull the cotton out into a very thin wispy layer and paint it with a diluted glue and water mixture.  I used a fifty/fifty mix of PVA white glue and water.  

The layers of cotton need to be very thin.  Thin enough that you can see through it.  When I tried to put the cotton on thicker it retained too much of the glue mixture and was very soggy.  I had some concerns that it could affect the stability of the animal.  The thick wet cotton also took a long time to dry.  I sat the animal in front of a fan for about seven hours, flipping it over from time to time in order to get it dry.  I had concerns that it could mold if left to dry naturally.

I was using unrolled cotton balls rather than using cotton batting.  My motto is use what you have, and what I had was cotton balls.  But whether you use cotton balls or rolled cotton there is one thing worth knowing about the experiment:  cotton has a grain.  If you are brushing the glue on the cotton and brushing with the grain, it goes on fairly smoothly.  If you brush against the grain the cotton tends to clump up.  

When adding the cotton, I started on the insides of the legs, tail, and belly.  Then I did the face and back.  That left both sides dry for a longer period of time.  After that, I did one side and took a break so that the glue could tack up a little bit.  Even then, it was still damp and sticky when I came back to it.  I had my work surface covered in plastic and a sheet of freezer paper.  The animal did not stick to it, but some of the cotton pulled away slightly.  I had to smooth it down a little.

After the second side was finished, I set it in front of a fan for several hours.  By the time I was ready to call it a night, it was dry enough that I did not have any concerns about mold.  It finished drying overnight well.

This week I will be adding a second coat of cotton to the cat.  I feel that this way of adding cotton "fur" has potential.  Now that I have learned the ins and outs of it, I think a second coat will be worthwhile.  That is my plan for now.  If it still looks like it needs some work, I have a Plan B.  When I make the clay for the decorations on the animals I could cover the cat in clay.  Just a thought, but I do not think I will have to do that.

If I finish the cat early in the week I may start on the final animal for the carousel.

Check back next week on Monday or Tuesday for a new post.

 

Paper Mâché Carousel Animals - Cat - Part 14

Today's change in the paper mâché cat I have been working on is slight, but at least it is progress.  I have added two layers of strip paper mâché to the cat.  I would like to add two more layers of strips before I start adding the "fur" to the cat.  Since the "fur" will also be a layer, I am not adding as many layers of paper mâché strips.

This is a one-eighth scale project.  It seems that working this small it would not time to get two layers on it, but that is not really the case.  The smaller size makes it a little harder to handle and you have to use smaller strips of paper.  Also, the first layer is always the hardest one.  After that, the second layer adheres much better.  

To make the first layer stick to the form better, I often smear it with some of the paper mâché paste so it has a bed of paste to lay the paper strips on so that it has a sticky base.

I allow it to dry thoroughly between layers of the paper strips.  Generally, that means that I only do one layer a day.  Most weeks I only have time to work on it two days a week.  

This was how the cat looked before the paper mâché strips were added.  This photo shows more accurately how the cat will look when it is mounted on a pole.

I felt as if I had hit a wall on the project this week, and I needed to take a break for a couple of days which also contributed to my not getting as much done as I would have liked.  

My husband and I went up to the mountains for a few days.  After weeks of just pushing through one thing after another we both needed time to make an attitude adjustment.  After a few days of relaxing and enjoying the fall colors, I am able to come back to my project with fresh eyes and some much-needed enthusiasm.

I guess I should tell anyone who plans on working on a long-term project that burnout can be a problem.  Working day after day, week after week on a project is wearing.  Enthusiasm starts to wane, and you start wishing you had never started the project to begin with and would rather be working on something else.  When it hits the point that you would rather do just about anything than head into the room to work on the project, it really is time to take a break.  After a while you will be ready to take up the project again.  So, give yourself a little time to do something else you enjoy when you begin to feel this way.  You and your project will be the better for it.

Anyway, that is today's progress report on the project.  I want to do a little research on another way to use cotton to make fur since I was not enamored with the type of cotton clay I used last time.  I hope to have photos of the cat with fur in the next blog post. Check back next Monday or Tuesday for a new post.

Paper Mâché Carousel Animals - Cat - Part 13

This will be a pretty quick post today because I am pressed for time once again.  It may not have as much detail in the post today, but I will do my best.  

I left off at my last post with bracing one side of the Romance side and the far side with toothpicks.  Once that was done, a second side was added to each body to cover the toothpicks. That left me with two fairly sturdy pieces of body for the cat and the tail.

I did the same thing with the tail.  Since this tail is sticking out from the cat, it will be easier to add the tail to it.  The tiger I made earlier had a tail that wrapped from his rear around to the front leg and required some different handling.

My next task was to turn these flat pieces into something three-dimensional.  This is done by adding some internal supports.  The supports were cut from cardboard.   The supports are different widths to all for some shaping of the various parts of the body.

The supports are hot glued into place.  After taking this picture, I realized that the head support was too wide.  I had to take that out and replace it with a narrower cardboard piece.  I did not add a lot of supports.  I just need it sturdy enough to be able to stand up to the next phase.  (Ignore the Modge Podge.  It has nothing to do with this project, it just happened to be sitting there from when I brought it home for another project.)

The next phase is to add a strip that sits on the back of these supports.  It is a strip of flexible cardboard that I cut from a manilla file folder.  It is hot glued to these supports.  The strip wraps around the body between the legs and continues all the way around the cats.

The cat is perched on a roll of tape.  Because one front leg is higher than the other, it will not stand unaided as the other figures do.  That will not really matter, because the animals will eventually be mounted on poles on the carousel.

This photo shows the strip of manilla folder wrapped around the cat's back.  It continues around the belly of the cat, and up through the ears.  

I cut the strip a little wider than the cat and glue it on with hot glue.  Once everything is glued down, I use a craft knife to trim the edges flush with the sides of the cat.  

And finally, once the cat has been trimmed to my satisfaction, I cover the animal with tape.  Since this is created from card stock and cardboard, I want to make sure that it is well protected from moisture when I start adding the paper mâché paste and strips.

The cat's tail was added once I had covered the entire animal with tape.  I measured to half-way across the rear and marked the spot.  I added a drop of hot glue to the bottom of the tail and held it in place until it was dry.  Then I added a small bead of hot glue to each side of the tail and wrapped it with masking tape while the glue was still warm so that the tail has a good bond.  

Anyway, that is all for the day.  Sorry for any typos or errors.  The day is calling, and I really have to go, so no proofreading this time.

 mâché

Paper Mâché Carousel Animals - Cat - Part 12

I have completed the next step in making the cat figure for my carousel.  I had to make an adjustment on my drawing of the cat.  I had made it smaller so that it would not be as large as the tiger figure I just completed.  But, once I had it cut out, I realized that it was just too small in relation to the other figures.  Rather than go through the task of drawing out the figure in a larger size, I put it on my printer and enlarged it.  Problem solved.  I just thought I would mention it in case anyone noticed the cat looked larger this week.  

This photo is my earlier version of the cat.  

Regular readers will be familiar with this part of the process.  I repeat it with each animal I make because not everyone has seen the older posts and I don't want them to miss a step.  

I have been working with patterns from a book on carving carousel animals, but I change the pattern so that my animals are not exactly like the patterns in the book.  In this case, I changed the shape and angle of the cat's ear and changed the angle of the left leg.  I also changed the left paw of the cat from facing toward the viewer to facing downward.  The animals will also be decorated in a different manner from the patterns when I get to that point.

Once I have a drawing that I am satisfied with, I use carbon paper to transfer the image to a piece of card stock.  I happen to have a large amount of blue card stock, so I have been using that.  Also, the blue card stock contrasts well against the background for taking pictures.

I make two images for each side of the cat.  The side that faces the public is called the Romance side.  This side is generally more highly decorated than the side facing away from the viewer.  

In this photo, the upper two figures are the Romance side, and the lower two figures are the inside.

Once the images are transferred, I cut them out of the card stock with a sharp craft knife. I cut it using the craft knife because I want the silhouette of the animal to be intact.  I have no specific plan for that yet, but I can envision using them as some sort of stencil in a future project.  

Cardstock was also a good choice for this project because the figures are only about five or six inches long and more or less as tall.  Using cardboard would have made the animals bulky, but it could still have been done by reducing the internal width of the supports that will connect the sides.  My philosophy is use what you have, and what I have right now is a lot of blue card stock.

I used scissors to snip off the tail of each piece as the tail goes in the middle of the animal.  I could have used the craft knife.  It is possible to use scissors to cut out the whole thing, but it just feels as if I have more control with the craft knife.  

Card stock is not strong enough by itself to make a three-dimensional animal covered in paper mâché.  The legs are just too flimsy and would not hold up the weight and the neck and body can flex in unanticipated ways.  To deal with this, I reinforce the inside of face of one of the two pieces with wooden toothpicks and hot glue.  I was not interested in taking the time to make it look like a skeleton as these reinforcements will not be seen once the animal is complete.  I just add enough toothpicks to make the figure rigid.  I use scissors to cut pieces off of toothpicks to make small bits to use on areas such as the paws and tail.

Once I have one side reinforced, I cover the toothpicks with hot glue and put the other figure on top of them.  I work a small area at a time, making sure that the two images match up along the edges.  

It is hard to see, but on the picture left, I have labeled the upper cat as "far" to indicate that this is the side that will be facing away from the public.  Romance is listed on the underside of the lower cat.  It helps me keep up with which side I am working with at the moment.  

The next step is to create the internal support pieces that will hold the two sides together to create a three-dimensional cat.  I have done some preliminary work on figuring out how wide the support pieces need to be.  The dimensions vary in different areas of the piece.  I will be blogging more about that in the next blog post.  

Check back next Monday or Tuesday for the next post. 

 

Paper Mâché Carousel Animals - Cat - Part 11

Another busy week, but at least I was able to make some time to work on my carousel project.  I am still working on creating the animals.  This week I started working on the pattern for the cat.  At least the pattern has been transferred to graph paper, and the basic shape of the cat forms have been cut out.  Sometimes even minimal progress has to be counted as a win.

The pattern shows both the Romance side (the side that faces the public) and the far side.  I had to make some adjustments to the pattern on the front legs.  The legs were so close together that I had some concerns about how multiple layers of paper mâché would impact the chest of the cat with the legs being in close proximity.  I raised the leg higher on the far side to give it a little more visual distance between them.  I also needed to make sure I had enough room between the legs to be able to get a paint brush in there to paint.  

In the original pattern, the far side paw was turned outward so that the bottom of the paw's pads could be seen.  I changed it to facing downward.  This would make it easier to paint.  Even though the creature is somewhere between five and six inches long, it is still small when it comes to painting a lot of detail.

I also changed the shape and incline of the ears.  I think it makes the cat look more alert.

In the photo, the far side of the pattern is on the left.  The Romance side is on the right.  The tail is in the upper middle between the body patterns.  Obviously, the tail goes in the middle of the rump, so you could not have the pattern of it on each side of the piece.

Anyway, the next step is to turn it into a three-dimensional object.  Regular readers have seen this method in previous posts.  I will be showing it again in the next post.  I know it is repetitive when I am doing multiple animals, but not everyone is a regular reader.  

After the cat is completed, I only need to make one more animal.  I am going back and forth as to what I want to do for the next animal.  I have made two horses, one ram, and a tiger.  So, three animals with hooves and two felines once the cat is complete.  I am debating whether I want to do some other type of goat, a gazelle, or a lion.  The jury is still out on that, but I am leaning towards another goat type creature just for consistency of size and shape in the animals.  However, most carousels with multiple animal types do not generally have the same type of animals in each row, so I am conflicted about what to do.  I also have reconsidered the giraffe pattern that I made earlier.  It is too tall, and I will have to raise the overall height of the project if I use it.   I am not sure I want to do that.  It is a matter of having the space to display it once the project is finished.

Once the animals are finished, the decorating fun begins.  I have already purchased what I need to make the clay that will be used to make the saddles, flowers, and other decorations.  I am looking forward to getting to that part of the project.  Because I have to mix up batches of clay, I may be working on multiple animals at once.  The internet says you can keep clay in the refrigerator for a few days, but my experience with that has not been a good one.  

As regular readers know, I recently completed my Green Man Pumpkin project.  For the next few weeks, I want to put a lot of time into this project.  I probably will not pick up a second project until after Thanksgiving.  With the holidays coming on I will not have the time to add another project.  I do have one unfinished doll project that has been sitting for a long time.  I may post an update on that project from time to time between now and then.  

The reason I have been going back and forth between projects is to keep myself from becoming bored with the project.  By having a break between one animal and the next, it breaks up the monotony for the readers too.  Many people do not want to take on a long-term project because it does not have as much instant gratification as a quick project.  It takes a lot of patience and perseverance to stay on task for months at a time.  Having a second project going has helped keep me from just putting it aside and saying I cannot take any more of this. 

Check back next week on Monday or Tuesday for the next update on this project.

My Earlier Carousel Project - A Retrospective

 I know a lot of people were expecting a new update on the carousel today.  I have been out of town and did not have an opportunity to work on it.  And, in the run up to going out of town we had heating/air conditioning issues as well as having to have some large and dangerous trees taken down, I was pretty distracted.  So, with no progress on the current carousel, I thought I would put up some pictures of my previous carousel.

It is hard to believe it, but it has been twelve years since I made this carousel.  The animals on it are a giraffe, a cat, a pig, and a camel.  Each of the four sides of the central pillar has a face.  

The faces are Johnny Cake faces.  When I was growing up, my mother had a Johnny Cake face from an antique carousel on the wall in the kitchen.  

The Johnny Cake story is an old English tale.  It is very similar to the story of the Ginger Bread Man story.  In this case a pancake was being cooked.  It jumps out of the pan and starts to roll away.  It is subsequently chased by a number of characters.  This story was one of my youngest child's favorite stories.  We read it often when he was little.                  

The cat.

Each side of the central pillar also has a small mirror.  When I was a child, I rode on a Merry Go Round at the amusement park that was at Virginia Beach.  It had mirrored columns on its pillar, and you could watch yourself and the horses surging forward and going up and down.

The armature for these animals was made from wire and covered with paper mâché. The armature photo for the cat is one of my most viewed photos.

The pig.

The rods holding up the animals are brass.  They are topped with a brass cap.  

This carousel did not go up and down, but it did go around.  It was not motorized, but it was mounted on a Lazy Susan type base.  You had to manually give it a push to make it move.  

The camel.

The floor of the carousel was made from wooden craft sticks.  It was stained to make it look like the real wooden floor of a carousel.

Even back then, I knew that at some point I wanted to make a larger motorized carousel.  It just took me a while to get to it.  I always felt I could have done better.  

I generally have way too many project ideas, and very little time to work on them.  Every once in a while, I hit a slump but that usually means that something is going on that prevents me from getting to my craft work.  

So, I will be home this week, and I hope that I will have some time to get to work on my current carousel project.  I will be posting new photos next week on Monday or Tuesday.  I am getting ready to work on my next animal, which will be a cat.  

After the cat form is completed, I still have one more animal to make.  I am still trying to figure out which animal I want it to be.  Once that animal is complete, I will be on to drilling a hole for the post, sanding and painting.  

I am becoming antsy on finishing this project.  I have had some new ideas that I can hardly wait to get started on.  So many projects, so little time.

 

Green Man Pumpkin - Part 15 - The Reveal of Green Man in Autumn

My 2025 paper mâché pumpkin is complete.  I have given this pumpkin a title.  Its name is Green Man in Autumn.  I have been working on this project since January, alternating between this project and my carousel project.  

It was difficult to paint the leaves and get them to look right.  It took multiple coats and washes of paint to get them to look anywhere near right.  One of the photos below will have a close up of the leaves. 

After two coats of gesso, I put on a coat of Cad yellow, then dotted in dabs of Cad red and Cad orange paint.  It did not look right.  The dabs looked unnatural.  I don't quite know how to describe it other than it just looked blotchy.  I repainted the Cad Yellow with some Autumn Gold craft paint.  It looked to chalky.  I added another coat of Cad Yellow over that.  The color looked better, but the oranges and reds still looked to blotch even through the Cad Yellow.  I was becoming frustrated.  

I woke up in the middle of the night and realized what I needed to do to make this look better.  What I needed were washes of paint rather than adding full color.  

I wanted to being out the veins in the leaves, so I started with a wash of Burnt Umber.  Right away this made the laves look more natural as it added dark lines to the veins and spots to the leaves in various places.  The wash was applied to the leaf and then dabbed off so that the darker color mostly stayed in the lines and depressions.

The yellow leaves were followed up with washes of Cad Orange and Cad Red in various spots.  The wash really did the trick.  It left a soft glow of color rather than the harsher dab of paint.

Next, I realized that there needed to be more contrast between the leaves.  When everything was bright gold, the leaves did not stand out well against each other.  Changing the color of some of the leaves really brought up the depth.

The background leaves were painted with Raw Sienna.  Then given a wash of Burnt Umber was applied using the same paint a wash on and dab off method.  Then on some of the leaves in various spots I added a wash of Cad Red.  This helped keep the leaves from looking so plain.

The stem of the pumpkin was first painted a dark green mix of Hunter Green with a very small amount of Dioxazine Purple, then striped with layers of Raw Sienna and Burnt Umber. with a slight dry brush of Raw Sienna over the entire stem after that. (I may have spelled Dioxazine wrong but am pressed for time, so I did not get up to check the spelling.)

The vines of the pumpkin were painted a dark green and washed with a coat of Burnt Umber.  The vine leaves were painted with the same mix of colors as the stem.  Then I added blotches of Cad Yellow and finally a wash of Cad Yellow.  I deliberately wanted the leaves to show a lot of yellow and green so as not to compete with the leaves of the face.  

I wanted an Olive Green for the face.  The face paint color is a mixture of Hunter Green, Burnt Umber, and some white.  I used Gesso rather than Titanium White.  Sometimes the Titanium White can look chalky when mixed with other colors.  I painted the face twice.  The first time it came out a little darker than I wanted after it was dry.  

As I blogged in the last post, I had a lot of trouble getting the color right for the orange of the pumpkin.  The first coat came out having too much red from the Cad Orange and Burnt Umber.  Ditto the second coat using Cad Orange and Raw Sienna.  I finally went to a craft store and picked up a craft paint called Jack O'Lantern Orange.  That worked out quite well.  

At first, I thought it might be too white, but after a trip to the Farmer's Market to look at pumpkins I decided that the color was spot on.  Now that the whole piece if completed, I am glad I stuck with that color.  I usually use artist paints, but sometimes craft paints have a place.  The color really went well with the leaves.

Finally, I wanted to show a picture of the pumpkin lit up.  I used a battery-operated light to give it a glow from inside.  The eyes are glass cabochons that have been reverse painted with acrylic paints.  I wish I had done a better job on painting the eyes.  I did not have a small enough brush.  

I thought I would mention the light because it is a bright LED light that I bought at Harbor Freight.  They were only about a dollar each when I bought them.  It has a rheostat knob, so you can adjust the brightness.  In the past I have used floating color changing pool lights to light the pumpkins.  They were pretty expensive and use more batteries than this less expensive light from Harbor Freight.

I guess the moral to this story is that if you are not satisfied with the painting, keep painting until you get something that works; or at least something you can live with.  I have really enjoyed this project even though it has been frustrating at times.  

Next week I will be back to blogging on the carousel project.  Check back Monday or Tuesday for the next blog post.

Green Man Pumpkin - Part 14 - The Painting Continues

I would have loved to post that the painting was complete, but I am still working on the pumpkin.  I have had a bit of trouble getting the colors to work as I wanted.  I have a color mixing chart, but it really did not seem to work very well.  Perhaps it is the brand of paint, but it rarely comes out looking anything like the color chart or as I want it to look.  This has caused me to repaint areas a number of times to even begin to get it to be the colors I want.  However, I am making progress, and I think I have half the face mostly painted except for the vein detail on the leaves.

This side is the side where it is finally coming together, although the photo does not show the colors as vividly as they appear if you are viewing it in person.  I don't think I had enough light on it when I took the picture.

I wanted to paint leaves to look like the colors of autumn, showing brilliant reds, golds, and russets.  Unfortunately, what looks great in nature, did not translate well to a painting at least not with the paints I was using.  

My first mistake was I had painted the leaves green because I needed some color on them so I could determine the color for the face.  My first painting of the face came out too dark.  I had to repaint it to bring it up to a lighter color.  It took another two paintings to get the face to a color I felt I could live with.  I was trying for an olive color.  At the moment it looks a little flat, but I think once I seal the piece it will brighten up a little bit.  So, I am leaving the face as it is.

My next problem was that the Cad Yellow Medium, Cad Red Medium, and Cad Orange are transparent colors.  They did not cover over the green leaves well, so the leaves ended up looking a muddy brownish green.  I painted some of the areas with an autumn gold craft paint to try to cover the green.  It looked very chalky.  I added more of the yellow, red, and orange. It still looked chalky, and the bright colors look blotchy.  You will see what I mean in the next photo.  Anyway, I painted over the leaves with a coat of Cad Yellow Medium.  That seemed to tone down the blotchy colors and take away some of the chalky look.  I also decided to paint some of the leaves brown to add some contrast.  That seemed to help a lot.  I think this side of the face is coming together.  I just have to go back in and add some veins on the leaves.  

The side of the pumpkin not yet finished.  It is still a work in progress.

This second photo shows the side of the face that has not yet been repainted.  The gold color looks chalky.  Without some of the background leaves being brown it does not have enough contrast to help the top leaves to stand out.  

Every once in a while, I have to remind myself that this is a craft project and that I am not trying to paint the Mona Lisa.  My problem is that I get to where I want it to look alive and real and that is never really going to happen.

I hope to have the pumpkin completed in the next week.  At this point I am feeling really relieved to be close to the end of this project.  I have been working on it all year and was feeling the stress of trying to get it done before October.  

Even though I have been alternating between this project and my carousel project it has been a slog to get to the finish line on this project.  I become bored and at times just have to buckle down and work through the boredom to get a project finished.  It is difficult to stay inspired when working on a long-term project.  The immediate gratification of a short-term project is not available, so I have to set my mind to being able to accomplish the short-term goals, which re not as satisfying.

One of the things that has helped keep me going is that I have so many readers that look in on the project.  I want to keep up with adding content to the blog, so I don't disappoint them by not having something new to put on the blog.  So, a big thank you to all my readers for helping me stay on track on this project.

Check back next week for the next post on this project.  I hope to have the Green Man Pumpkin completed by then.  mâché

Green Man Pumpkin - Part 13 - The Painting Begins

 Regular readers will know that I have recently been working on my carousel project.  I switch back and forth between the carousel and the pumpkin project to keep from getting burned out from working on them for so long. This week I am back on the Green Man Pumpkin project, and I have started painting the piece.

One of the art programs I watch on television repeatedly talks about covering the entire canvas with a base coat of the large shapes and then working to bring the values into line.  That lesson was really brought home when trying to paint this pumpkin.  It was impossible to tell what the right values would be when the entire pumpkin was bright white.  I had painted it with two coats of gesso to cover up the printed newspaper that I used for the paper mâché.  I wanted to make sure no words or pictures were showing through.

The photo on the left shows the base coat for the pumpkin and the pumpkin vine leaves.  Actually, this is the second coat.  I was having trouble getting the orange right.  For my first attempt, I had mixed Cad Orange and Burnt Umber.  That brand had a lot of red in it and the pumpkin looked too red orange.  For my second try I mixed Cad Orange and Burnt Sienna.  It was still not right.  After that I tried a test patch of Cad Orange and Cad Yellow.  It looked streaky.  I finally gave up and went 

to the craft store and bought their last bottle of Pumpkin Orange paint.  At first, I thought it looked a little flat but decided to live with it.  In retrospect, I think it was an improvement. You will see that color in the photos below.  

I have not finished painting the piece.  I have not yet added a base color to the face.  I decided to work on the pumpkin vine and leaves first to try to make some type of value decisions on the back first and save the face for last.

I wanted this piece to reflect the colors of leaves in autumn.  After all, that is when pumpkins are starting to ripen.  I painted the leaves a dark green basecoat, mixing Hunter Green and Dioxazine Purple.  It was really dark but covered the white well.  (You can see that in the first photo.)  Then I lightly brushed on a coat of Sap Green.  When that was dry, I started tapping in some Cad Orange mixed with Burnt Umber in spots here and there.  And finally tapped in some Cad Yellow Light in spots.  This is about as far as I have gone with the painting.  I may add some orange highlights to the leaves just to bring up the color a little bit more.  I will try it, but I don't want to add too much color because I don't want to compete with the face.

The vines for the pumpkin were base coated with Sap Green, then painted with a mixture of Sap Green and Burnt Umber.  I wish I had made the vines a little thinner, but it was hard to make them smaller with the paper mâché clay I was using.  I also painted the stump at the top of the pumpkin with the same mixture of Sap Green and Burnt Umber.  The stump of the vine is not finished yet.  I want to go in and add a lighter color to contrast with the greenish brown.  That color will probably be Burnt Sienna, but I have not tested it yet.

I have painted in some of the darker shadows on the face with the dark green/purple mixture I mentioned earlier.  The glass eyes are protected with some Press and Seal to protect them from getting paint on them.

Anyway, the painting is well underway.  In another week or two I will have this project completed.  It just depends on how much time I have to work on the project this week.  It seems like I have been working on it forever, but it has only been nine months.  I started this project in January of this year.  

Check back next week on Monday or Tuesday for the next post.  I try to have it ready for my readers on Monday, but sometimes life just gets too busy.  

Paper Mâché Carousel Animals - Tiger - Part 10

It took three days, but I have added all the cotton clay fur to my tiger.  I have not yet added the tail.  The cotton ball clay was not going to be strong enough to hold the tail on its own.  I have cut a piece of heavy gauge wire to support the tail.  You can see it lying next to the tiger in the picture below.  It will come off his backside and attach to the near side of the back leg for support.  I have to mix up another type of clay to cover the wire.  After that dries I will add more cotton ball clay.  The tail may not be attached until I start adding the saddle and reins.  I will be using a homemade air-dry clay for that.  It is a matter of finding the time to do it, as I plan to add the accessories to all the animals at once, so I don't have to store the clay too long.   

 

I also added a jaw to the tiger so it will have its mouth open to roar.  I have not yet decided on how to do the teeth.  I want to put in at least the sharp teeth in the front.  For the moment I am thinking I will use the sharp tip ends of wooden toothpicks.  The animal would be too small to use bits of plastic fork, I think.  Time will tell.  

The clay dried to a nice hard finish.  Although on one level it looks a little wool, I think it is going to look a lot better once I get around to painting the animal.  

After this week, I am going to take a break from the carousel animals.  (Scroll back to previous posts to see the horses and ram that I have already made or visit the blog at folkartbycaroljones.blogspot.com).  it is already a week into September, and I need to start painting on my other project for this year: the Green Man Pumpkin.  I need to have this finished by October.  It will take just about all of my crafting time to get that finished.  

Once I have finished painting the pumpkin, I will be back to the carousel project.  I need to make two more animals.  I have two horses and one ram, and one tiger.  I want to make a cat, which will be pared with tiger.  The other animal will be some type of ungulate (hooved animal) to pair with the ram.  Once all the animal forms are completed it will be time to start adding the saddle, reins, and such flowers and ribbons (made with air-dry clay) as I might decide to put on the animals.  So, check back often to see the progress on those parts of the project.  There is still a lot to be done on this project even before I start to think about how the carousel will be put into motion.

In the meantime, check back next week to see how the painting of the Green Man Pumpkin is going.

Paper Mâché Carousel Animals - Tiger - Part 9

This week I have been working on covering my tiger figure in cotton clay.  How is it going?  Well, it is a work in progress.  I am not really enamored with this type of clay.  It is working but not as I hoped it would.  I guess I should start at the beginning of this saga.

First, you have to pull apart a bunch of cotton balls.  I would recommend that you wear a dust mask if you do this.  The tiny fibers were everywhere, on my clothes and face.  It is probably not a good idea to be inhaling these particles. 

Next, the original recipe I found said to boil the fibers.  I did not think it necessary, so I just soaked them overnight.  The next day, the fibers that I had spent so much time tearing into little pieces had matted themselves into a piece of fiber.  After draining the water, I had to pull the tear the pieces apart again.  Then I added the new water and flour to make a loose paper mâché mix.  I also added some glue.  By the tie it was thoroughly mixed, the fibers had matted up again.  I suppose that this might be okay if you wanted to add a large swath of clay as one piece over something, but it did not do all that well for my purposes.  However, I continued on with the project, pulling little pieces of fiber off and sticking it onto the tiger form.  I should mention that I would put some PVA glue directly onto the tiger to stick the piece of fiber on.  The fiber tended to slide around and needed some sturdier glue to make it stick.

I had to work one section at a time and sit in front of a fan for several hours to let it dry.  I was concerned that it would develop mold if it was allowed to dry on its own.  When I had the entire figure covered the fur looked more like a sheep than a tiger.  And I still have not figured out the tail.

Anyway, I decided that another layer of the cotton clay was in order.  I used the same method for the second layer, laying down glue and then adding some of the cotton fiber.  This time, once the fiber was on the form I used the tip of a wooden skewer to press indentations into the fur.  This flattened the cotton a little more and gave it some directional lines to indicate fur.  I am still working on that part and expect it will take me a few more days to finish.

This photo shows the fur along its back where I have added the second layer.  I wanted the fur to look a little rough.  

Many people see pictures of tigers, and they have beautiful soft looking coats.  Most people do not know that tigers do not look like that in the wild or even in zoos.  Tigers tend to look a little dusty and scruffy.  The pictures that many people are looking at are shot at special animal sanctuaries that cater to photographers.  The tigers have been washed and groomed for the photos.  (I read this in a photography magazine.)

I watched the tiger at our local zoo for quite some time.  Our zoo has an albino tiger.  He or she, I am not sure which had white fur with black stripes and blue eyes.  I actually plan to paint my tiger figure in the well-known orange and black.  but it was nice to see such a rare and magnificent animal.  

This tiger was very smart too.  There was a place you could stand and observe the animal in its outside enclosure through a plexiglass window.  The tiger kept running up to the window and launching itself at the plexiglass, striking it with its paw.  It was smart enough to understand that this plexiglass was such a large piece that it would flex and bend just a little bit when it was hit.  It kept jumping at the glass and hitting it dead center over and over.  It was actually beginning to develop a small spider web shaped crack in it about the size of a dime.  I have never heard that the tiger escaped, but I am sure that they had to replace that piece of plexiglass before there was trouble.

Anyway, as I said earlier, the tiger is still a work in progress.  I still need to add more clay to the sides and legs.  It may take most of the week.  All in all, if I had to do it over again, I would use a different clay.

The only other thing I might add is that when laying on the clay, you have to consider the direction of the fur.  For the back of the animal, I started at the rear and worked my way up towards the head.  For the sides, you should work from the stomach to the shoulders to make the fur look like it is laying in the right direction.  

Check back next week for new photos of the (hopefully) competed animal.

Paper Mâché Carousel Animals - Tiger - Part 8

I am still working on the tiger for my carousel.  I had hoped to have the cotton clay layer added before this post, but that did not work out.  Unseasonably cool temperatures allowed my husband and I to get some work done we had been putting off because it was just too hot and humid.  So only a small step forward on this project.

Two layers of standard strip paper mâché have been added to the tiger.  I wanted to have some extra layers of protection for the figure before adding the cotton clay.  That clay will be moist for about twenty-four hours.  I did not want it to soften the cardstock and cause the animal shape to sag or collapse.

Right now, the animal almost looks like a bear more than a tiger.  It will look different after the tail is added.  The face still needs a little work also.  The front of the face looks a little flat.  I plan to work on that when I add the clay.

I had figures collapse on a project once years ago.  I was making some fairly tall figures that I wanted to paint for a Christmas scene.  My paste was too moist, and it permeated the tape and made the underlying cardboard soggy.  Over the course of a few hours, I kept hearing thuds coming from my studio as one by one the figures collapsed and fell from the worktable to the floor.  It was pretty disheartening.  I never did get back to that project. 

Anyway, today I plan to try to work with the cotton clay.  I have spent a couple of hours tearing cotton balls into small shreds of cotton this past week.  With twenty-twenty hindsight, I will say that I probably should have been wearing a mask while I did this.  Little fluffs of cotton kept flying up to my face.  Keeping a lint roller handy would be helpful as well.  I was covered with little strands of cotton by the time I was finished.

I found the recipe for cotton clay on the internet.  It calls for boiling the cotton with flour and water.  I keep an old pot that I don't use for food for these types of projects.  I am really not thrilled with the whole boiling and waiting for it to cool thing.  I once did a project where I had to boil some wool.  It really stank.  Cotton may not do the same thing, but I want to try something else first. 

Boiling the cotton may cause the fibers to open up more to accept the paper mâché mixture better and make the clay a more cohesive clay, but I am not sure that it is totally necessary.  I have some paper mâché clay recipes that called for boiling the paper first but really worked just as well by soaking the paper over night.

I think I would prefer to just soak cotton until it is damp and then squeeze any excess moisture out of it. Then mix it with flour, water, and diluted glue.  I may try that first to see if it works.  

So that is about it for today.  I will be blogging next week on what happened with the cotton clay.  The worst that could happen is I have to start over on the tiger or the clay (or both).

Check back next week (Monday or Tuesday) for the next blog post.

Paper Mâché Carousel Animals - Part 7 - Tiger Build Continues

I am still working on creating the paper mâché tiger.  It was a busy week for me, and I did not have a lot of time to work on it.  However, any progress is better than no progress. Besides being busy, I was distracted while I was working on it and made a mistake or two.  Fortunately, it was one that could be recovered from as I continue to work on the animal.

Bad crafting days, everyone has one at some point.  Whether it is catching up thread or fabric under a sewing machine foot, having to pull out some rows of knitting because of misreading the pattern, or making a bad cut on a piece of wood; sooner or later any crafter is going to make a mistake.  This week was my turn.  I bring this up because I want people to know it happens and that not every project goes perfectly from start to finish.  It is easy to become discouraged when things do not go well.  

Many people have what are referred to as UFOs.  No not flying saucers, it stands for Unfinished Objects. It is not uncommon for people to have incomplete craft projects hanging around because of some problem that caused them to become discouraged.  I used to have those too, but as I became a little better at the crafts, I made the decision that I would no longer leave a craft project unfinished.  I will complete the project even if it is never going to meet my expectations.  Most of the time it comes out better than I thought it would.  

Once you make a mistake you have to decide whether that piece of the project is ruined beyond fixing and you need to start over or if you can come up with a solution to fix the problem.  Sometimes the fix may take your craft item in a completely different direction from what you envisioned.  You will be surprised at what you can come up with to fix a problem

Last week I stopped working after drawing the images of the Romance side (The side that faces outwards.) and the inward facing side. I also transferred the images to some cardstock by tracing over the images with carbon paper underneath the drawing.  Then I cut them out using a sharp craft knife.  All seemed well at the time.  It was not until later that I discovered a problem with the drawing, but that was not the worst of the mistake on this animal.  There were a couple of mistakes.

The first error was that when I returned to work on the animal I did not stop to think through where I was on the project.  My next step in creating the three-dimensional figure is that I stiffen the blue cardstock by gluing toothpicks on the inside of the animal to give it a "skeleton".  It is not an actual skeleton, just toothpicks glued on where needed to make it sturdy.  

In my defense, I will add that not only was I distracted by other things going on, but I was also in brain fog because I had spent the morning converting the American units of measure to centimeters and millimeters while determining the lengths for the internal cross piece supports.  It was easier for me to work with the metric system as my rulers are difficult to read when looking at 16ths and 32nds of an inch.  

I neglected to take a photo of the cross pieces and the strips of folder that covered the top and bottom of the animal.  If you would like to see the full explanation as to how these were installed, you can scroll back to my carousel horse or goat blog posts to see that part of the process.  If you are not able to see them, you can look at them by going to my blog IRL: folkartbycaroljones.blogspot.com.  I am adding a photo of the horse cross pieces here for quick reference.

Anyway, long story short, I cut the cross-pieces out to my converted lengths and started to glue them on.  When I finished gluing them on, I held the animal up and thought, "Why is this animal so flimsy compared to the others?"  That was when I realized that I had glued in the cross pieces before I had added the toothpick skeleton.  My choices at this point were either to undo the work that had already been done, or I could glue the skeleton to the outside before I covered the animal with tape.  In this case, I chose to glue the toothpicks to the outside.  As you could see from the top photo, they are quite visible at this point.  However, when the animal is completed, they will not be visible because I plan to cover the animal with a layer of homemade clay.  More on the clay in a moment.

So, on to the second mistake.  Apparently, my interpretation of the tiger pattern was not exactly right.  (The size of the tiger pattern was large compared to the horses, and I needed to make a reduced pattern) I made the legs on one side were too short.  I did not discover this until I had the animal skeleton on, and the piece was all taped up.  The tiger had a distinct lean to the left when it was stood up on its four legs.  It was not a lot too short, only about a millimeter or two, but it was very noticeable.  I suppose in the overall scheme of things it might not have been noticeable when the animal is put on its poll on the carousel, as I could have compensated for that, but I knew it was there.  It was just unacceptable to me.  Fortunately, I was able to rectify the situation by hot gluing on some small bits of toothpick to the bottom of the feet and then covering it with masking tape.  Once the tiger is covered with layers of paper mâché strips and clay, no one will ever know it was a problem.  The tiger now stands well balanced on its feet.

This week I will be working on covering the tiger with clay.  I have run out of the commercial paper mâché clay that I had been using for the other animals.  I wanted the tiger to look as if it had fur, so I plan to make some homemade cotton ball clay.  I have not made this before, although I had previously made some clay out of dryer lint for another project.  I have high hopes that this clay will work well in this application.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  I will let you know how it works out in my next blog post.

Check back next Monday or Tuesday for the next blog post.