Making the Paper Mâché Carousel Horse 3-Dimensional

I have been making good progress on the carousel horse.  Last week I blogged about how I made the cardstock pattern and stiffened it so that it could be used for covering with paper mâché.  This week I will be blogging about how to turn the flat pieces of the horse into a 3-dimensional object.

In this photo, the flat horse side on the left is the side that faces the inside of the carousel.  The horse on the right is the side that faces outward from the carousel.  This side is called the Romance side.  The side facing outward is generally more highly decorated than the inward side.  

Each of these pieces are covered front and back with adhesive tape.  The tape will prevent moisture from the paper mâché from being absorbed by the cardstock.  The tape also adds a layer of rigidity to the figure.

This is actually the second horse in the series.  It looks just like the first horse.  I forgot to take some critical pictures, so I made a second one so that I could show the construction techniques.  However, between the two I also did an experiment.  I wanted to find out if I could just cover the outer of the horse with tape after it was put together.  It actually worked without taking the time to cover the inside of the horse.  It takes so long to make these creatures that I am looking for ways to save a little time.

The next step in the process is to add some spacers to one side of the horse.  The spacers are made from small bits of corrugated cardboard that were cut from a box. This photo shows the back side the horse with spacers attached to it with hot glue. One important thing to remember at this point is that an opening between spacers needs to be left for the pole that will eventually be added to the animal. This pole sits just in front of the saddle.

The three blue objects are silicon finger covers.  They are great for preventing burns when using hot glue.  They can be found at most craft stores and some discount stores.  I recently found another package of them at Dollar Tree for (you guessed it) one dollar.  I really recommend that you purchase some if you plan to work with hot glue. 

The spacers are different lengths depending upon what part of the animal they are supposed to support.  The rump spacers are wider than the one between the eyes of the horse for example.  

One of the books I purchased on carving carousel horses had some measurements and rations that proved very helpful in determining what lengths to cut the spacers.  Because I am working in such a small scale; and because I had modified the pattern, I had to do some math to make everything come out looking right.  Sometimes I was working in 32nds of an inch.  Sometimes I just had to eyeball it and say, "yes, that works".

The main thing that you have to remember at this point is that the front side and back side have to line up at critical points of the head, saddle and rump.  If those areas are not lined up, the whole animal will look wrong.  I hot glued the first supports starting at the head, and working my way back one at a time.

Once the two sides of the animal are together, I added a strip of flexible cardboard to cover the open area.  I used a piece of an old manilla file folder.  It was a little more flexible than the blue cardstock.  I started along the face, then the back, underside and chest.  

I cut the strip a little wider than the area to be covered.  I used hot glue to attach the strip of the file folder.  Working in small areas at a time, I put a small amount of hot glue along each edge, then held it down until the area bonded with the glue.  Once the entire animal was covered with the file folder strip, I went back with a craft knife and trimmed the strip flush with the sides of the horse.

  

Once the strip was trimmed, I covered the entire area with masking tape.  The horse is structurally stable but will not stand on its own.  That is why the pictures show it leaning against a bottle of glue.  Eventually, the pole will be added along with whatever base will be used for the horse.  I don't plan on adding the pole until later, because the paper mâché will make a mess on the pole when I cover the animal.  

I plan to make all the animals for the carousel before I start on the mounting of them.  It will mean drilling a hole at a later point, but I plan to do all of the paper mâché work first so that I will be doing all the sanding and drilling outside when the weather is warmer.  That will keep down the dusty mess in the house.  Also, it is more efficient than pulling out a drill and cleaning up multiple times.

At this point, the sides of the horse are still flat.  I need to define some of the muscular groups to give the horse a more dimensional look.  Check back next week to see how I took the horse to a more rounded shape, 

Creating the First Carousel Horse in Paper Mâché - Pictures

I am just getting started on the first horse in my new carousel project.  This is going to be a long-term project.  Years ago I made a miniature paper mâché carousel.  The animals were only two to three inches tall.  This time I am ready for a slightly larger carousel.  I plan on making a larger carousel.  It will be 1/8th scale.  The animals will be somewhere between four and seven inches tall, depending upon the species.  

In my blog post last week, I described and showed pictures of how I transferred the pattern to graph paper.  I was working from a published pattern for wood carving.  I needed to make adjustments to the original pattern in order to make it more usable for working in paper mâché.  Because of the small size of the horse, I needed to adjust the head and neck to allow for more room for the layers of paper mâché.  

Once I had my own pattern set, I transferred the pattern to some heavy blue cardstock that I happened to have on hand.  It is not necessary to use cardstock for this project, but I try to use what I have to keep costs down.  Gray board would have worked well, or even cardboard from a cereal box. Corrugated cardboard could have been used, but it would have been bulkier, and it would have been harder to cut out the figure.  

I cut out two of the front side, (lower two horse shapes) which is called the Romance side on carousel animals.  This side is usually more decorated as it is the side that people will see if they are looking at the carousel.  This will make one horse.  This will make more sense as you see the construction of the horse below.

The upper two shapes are for the side of the animal that faces the center of the carousel.  Generally, the side facing the center is not as ornately decorated, but I really have not yet considered what decorations I want and how I will make them.

Cardstock is not a heavy material.  It is less flimsy than regular writing paper, but not strong enough on its own to stand up.  I needed some support so I added a few bits of toothpicks to the underside of one of the horse silhouettes to keep it from being floppy.  Obviously, I was not attempting to make it look like an actual skeleton.  The toothpicks were attached with hot glue.

I have a tip for cutting the toothpicks, in case you are considering trying this.  Use heavy kitchen shears, cover the toothpick with a towel and cut the toothpick.  This will prevent small pieces from flying all over the place.  Another method is to place the toothpick on a cutting board and use a box cutter to make the cut, by rolling the toothpick until it is cut all the way around, then snap it or use the box cutter to make the final cut.  

Once the toothpick supports are complete, I covered the toothpick side with the second silhouette of the horse.  The figures are lined up so that they match in all areas.  I used masking tape to keep the pieces matched up while I worked on the next section.

The same process was used to strengthen the back side of the horse.  I did not take a picture of that.  Sometimes I get so involved in what I am trying to do that forget to stop and take a picture.  

Now I have two flat but stiff horse pieces.  In the next blog post I will show how I turn these pieces into a three-dimensional horse.  Check back next week.

Starting the New Carousel Project

 I am starting on another carousel project.  I made a small one years ago, and now I am ready to attempt a larger one.  My plan is to make all of the animals first, then get on with the platform and housing.  This project will be in 1/8th scale.  It may be large enough that I will motorize it rather than having it on a hand spun platform as I did with the previous one.

I have two books on carving carousel animals.  The books give patterns and dimensions for the animals.  However, I am not planning to carve the animals.  I will make them out of paper máchê.  The process of construction will be very different, but the patterns and the suggested dimensions will be very helpful.

To begin the process I am working on the first animal, which will be a horse.  The first thing I needed to do was to make a pattern.  I had to modify the pattern a little bit because the horse in the pattern had an open mouth with upper and lower teeth showing.  I did not want to have the horse with an open mouth because it would be very difficult to create teeth that small in paper máchê.   I drew the pattern on graph paper, then made the corrections to the head. 

The upper photo is for the back side of the horse.  The front of the horse is in a lower portion of the picture.  I drew the saddle in for future reference to remind myself that a portion of the saddle was in the drawing.  Otherwise, the horse figure looked a little weird.

The side of the horse that faces the public is called the Romance side.  That side of the animal is usually decorated much more ornately than the far side.  I am not showing any of the decorations on the pattern.  They may vary significantly from the proposed decorations in the carousel book.

I traced my version of the patterns on some heavy blue paper that I had on hand.  I don't know the weight of the paper.  It did not come in its original box.  Someone had passed their leftover paper to me when they finished their project.  It was not in the original packaging.  The paper is about the weight of cardstock.  All of it is bright blue. One sheet by itself will not be strong enough.  I had to cut out two sheets for each side.  They will be glued together.  

The shapes were cut out of the card stock with a craft knife.  the ears look a little small and out of place, but I have to account for the size of the ears as they are covered with paper máchê.   The neck does not look right in the drawing, but as above, that area will be filled in with layers of paper máchê. In the end, the head will be almost touching the neck.

So this is the first phase of bring my carousel horse from an idea into manifestation.  Next week I will be blogging about how I created a three- dimensional animal from a flat sheet of paper.

Announcing New Projects for 2025

It is already March.  I plan to work on two main projects this year.  I have been working on them for a while, but I wanted to get a little bit of a head start on them.  As always, I wonder, "Am I going to be able to pull this off.  I have ideas, but sometimes I wonder if I have the talent to do them.  It is really just a means of procrastination.  I just have to get over that first reluctance to get started.  Now that I have committed to the projects for better or worse they are underway.

In 2013 I made a small carousel.  The animals were only two or three inches, and the entire piece was only a few inches tall.  It had only a few animals on it and no horses.  It was not motorized.  You could rotate the piece by hand.  I liked it because it did not take up a lot of space.  I disliked it because the rotating mechanism was a little noisy. Overall, I felt I could have done better.

This year I am going to build a larger carousel.  It will be about four times the size of the previous carousel.  This is going to be a long-term project.  I expect it will take up most of the year.

My other project for 2025 will be another pumpkin.  This year I want to make a Green Man pumpkin.  In case you are wondering what a Green Man might be, he is an anthropomorphic representation of the spirit of vegetation.  Generally, a Green Man is painted as being green and surrounded by leaves, fruits, and vegetables.  I plan to have the Green Man face on a pumpkin, surrounded by autumn leaves and nuts.  

The projects will run concurrently.  Some days I will blogging on one, some days the others.  Being able to switch between the projects will keep me from becoming frustrated when I hit those down days when I get tired of working a project and just want to walk away from it for a while.  

Anyway, I am working on the first carousel horse.  Next week's blog post will show the construction of the first horse from the beginning.  

Last of the Halloween Journal Pictures

 These are the last of the paintings I did for my 2024 Halloween Journal.  In case you did not see the other blog posts of journal pictures, scroll back through the last few posts.  As I blogged earlier, my friend asked that we do a Halloween Journal challenge last year.  We started very early in the year, but 2024 was a very busy year for both of us.  We actually did not complete the challenge until December.   We tried hard, but just finding the time for a hobby was pretty difficult due to health challenges and family issues.  However, we persevered until we had completed the challenge.  

 

The Bonfire Dancer was painted in watercolor.  I have many fond memories of Halloween bonfires.  We danced, we sang, we even jumped through the fire, although the bonfire had burned down to a manageable level before we made the attempt.  

I tried an acrylic painting of a woman in silhouette dancing before the fire, but it did not turn out as well.  It seemed that the colors did not mix as well, and the colors seemed a little garish.

I call this painting The Nightmare.  My family and friends were playing Dungeons and Dragons.  One of the players had a creature called a Nightmare.  The horse had a flaming mane, tail, and hooves were flames.  It could move from the normal plane to the ethereal plane. This is a picture I made of the Nightmare jumping from the ethereal plane into the normal world. 

I love owls.  I painted this some time ago but decided to include it in the journal anyway.  I had made an owl sculpture last year, and I wanted this to be a reminder of that bird.  I used an orange background to simulate the orange glow of the sky at dusk.

It is also a call to attention that the sky (at least around where I live) is always a dull orange at dusk.  We used to have beautiful sunsets, but now all we get is a dusky orange.  The color is due to how much CO2 is in the atmosphere now.  I sometimes wonder what birds think of all the pollution and how they are powerless to stop what humans are doing to their habitat.

Scroll down for more photos.  I have not figured out how to move the pictures around on the page.  It used to be click and drag, but that does not seem to work now.

This painting is called The Witching Hour.  The clock is at 12:00 for midnight.  Most people think that this is the witching hour, so I went with that.  Other people think that the real magical witching hour is exactly halfway between dust and dawn.  

Unfortunately, when I put some sealer on the painting, it started to remove some of the dark paint.  The glow around the witch and the lowest ghost was not intentional.  

The Scarecrow and Corn Rick are pretty much standard Halloween fare.  I can remember seeing hay and corn ricks out in the fields when I was a child.  Piling all that hay or corn stalks up against the rick with a pitchfork was a lot of work. Then farmers started baling hay in big rectangular bales.  Now hay is rolled up into giant rolls.  I don't know how heavy they are, but it takes a lot of farm equipment to roll them and move them around.  

Next week I will be announcing my new projects for 2025.  I am very excited to get started.