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.