A Bit More Decorative Work finished on the Animals- Part 57

 

Autumn is bringing in some nice weather, and I think I have completed more outside projects and errands in the last week than I have in the last month or two.  The second horse has been decorated, but that is about it as new pictures go.  This photo does not show it, but I have also added the section of the halter that goes over the ears on this horse and the other horse.   

I spent much of the rest of my crafting time doing small tasks such as reinforcing the glue on the halters for both horses and making more roses.  I am considering adding more roses to the bottom edge of the saddle blanket for the horse I showed you last week.  I do not plan on putting roses on the blankets of both horses, but that could change if I like the look of additional roses on the first horse.  

The roses have not been added to the other horse yet.  I am holding off until I am ready to make some more paper clay.  The clay recipe I am using does not keep, so I am only making small batches at a time.  

I also started considering how I want to decorate the tiger and the ram.  Somehow, I do not see putting roses on them.  While the horses and even the rabbit can be a domestic animal and are sometimes dressed up for shows with flowers and ribbons, I do not think I have seen this done on wild carousel animals.  I need to come up with some other ideas.  I am thinking that there will only be decorations on their saddle blankets.  I will have more information about that in the next blog post.

Progress may be slow between now and the end of the year, but I hope to have a post up each week.  Suddenly, my calendar has gone from few appointments here and there to loaded to the max with the holidays coming.  I really want to finish this project, but I expect that the end of it may not come until after the first of the year.  A lot of sanding and painting has to come, and I want to get that right.  Or at least to a point that I can live with it.  Slow but steady wins the race as the saying goes.

While I don't expect to have all the decorating of the animals done by next week, I hope to at least have it well under way.  Check back next week on Monday or Tuesday for the next blog post.

Adding Decorative Elements to the Carousel Animals - Part 56

 

It was Sunday before I was even able to get into my studio this week.  It has been a busy week.  However, I was able to add decorative elements to some of the carousel animals this week.  

I started with the rabbit because it seemed to need the most help.  I hope it will look better once it is painted, but it looks so plain that I was not as happy with it as I was some of the animals.  Also, if I have to make mistakes, I would rather do it on this animal as it is my least favorite animal.  If I have to make a mistake, and cannot fix it, I would rather make a another of these than some of the more other animals.  Its shorter thicker legs make it easier to put together than ones with longer thinner legs.

Anyway, the large open spaces that will be white fur needed something to make this animal pop.  I used most of the miniature roses I made to make a wreath of flowers for her.  To set the roses in place, I made a small batch of the toilet tissue clay and made a ribbon of it to go around the rabbit's neck.  I used a small bead of white glue. (Yes, the Elmer's Multipurpose PVA glue was delivered). I found that pasting a small amount on the neck using a pallet knife was preferable to just adding a bead of glue from the bottle.  Although the glue is quite thick, it still wanted to drip down a bit.  Using the pallet knife allowed me to place a smaller amount of glue that did not drip.  

I cut a small ribbon of the paper clay and added it on top of the glue.  My first cut of the ribbon was a guestimate of what size it needed to be.  Once the paper clay ribbon was attached to the rabbit, I needed to use a clay tool to remove some of it because it was too large.  

Next step was adding the roses.  I ended up having to clip off some of the stem of the roses to make them fit into the paper clay.  I expected that was going to happen, but I needed to have larger stems on the roses in order to hold them while I was working on them.  Once I trimmed off some of the stem, I dipped each one in full strength white glue and pressed the rose into the ribbon of paper clay.  The paper clay has glue in it already, but I wanted to make sure the roses were securely glued to the ribbon.  These roses are so small that I had to hold them with tweezers while dipping and placing them.  I used most of the roses I made on this animal.  I only had a few left over.

 The first horse had a rose added to each side of its bridle.  I am thinking of it more as a halter than a bridle, but that is just artistic license.  I still need to add the piece that goes behind the ears.  I was having a bit of trouble getting the "rope" to stick into the glue.  Some things just have to be done a little at a time.  

The "rope" is actually kite string.  I tried yarn, and some smaller string, but the scale was not right.  The kite string wanted to unravel on the cut ends.  Before putting the bits of string on the animal, I tied the string taut between two lamps and ran a layer of white glue over it with my fingers and let it dry.   This kept the entire piece of string from unraveling when it was cut to length.  I still needed to dip the cut ends in glue and twist them after that.  The glue made the string a little bit stiffer, but still malleable enough to go over the curves.

I added a rose to each side of its head using the same method described above.

To add another decorative element, I added a chest strap.  I had made some small clay balls earlier from some leftover paper clay.  I had added some calcium carbonate to the paper clay mix so that they would dry very hard.  (The softer paper clay tended to want to flatten.)  I was just experimenting with the clay when I did that, but I saved them because I was unsure at the time whether I would be able to make the roses work.  At one point I considered making them jingle bells, but now they are going to be brass studs.  That is my story and I am sticking to it!

The other horse was done the same way.  

I still have the tiger and the goat to decorate.  I don't think the tiger will have any flowers, but I might want some for the goat.  I will have to make some more roses before I do that though.  

There are still some decorations to be added to the saddle blankets.  I may try to add some of the decorations as paper clay so they will stand out more, but most of them will be painted rather that glued on.  I have not decided yet.  It is difficult to work in this small a scale.  

Once I finish the last two animals it will be time for sanding and painting.  It has been a long time getting to this point.  Once painted, the animals will be ready to add to the carousel.  But wait, there's more.  I am forming a plan for adding some lights to the carousel.  I will be blogging more about that in an upcoming post.  

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

More on Making the Roses for the Carousel Animals

 I was away last week and did not have a chance to make a post before I left.  After a year filled with ice in the winter, wildfire smoke in the spring, extreme heat and severe thunderstorms with flash floods during the summer, we finally had a stretch of nice autumn weather.  So, we decided on the spur of the moment, to drop everything and head for the mountains.  The leaves are already starting to turn up there.  It was nice to get away for a few days.  

When we returned, I started working on the miniature roses again.  All of the roses have been shaped and painted with glue to stiffen them.  They are quite hard now and hold their shape.  (If you want the information on how these miniature roses were made, scroll back to the last few posts.)  It is hard to see the rose detail in this picture because this picture shows them actual size rather as compared to last week's photos which were taken with the roses held under a magnifying glass.

Not all of the roses ended up looking like roses, some looked like daffodils and a few like camellias.  For this project, that is okay as I am not married to the idea that the flowers all have to be roses.  If you absolutely need roses, consider making extras, and choosing the best ones.    

When making the first few roses, I was dipping the roses in white glue.  Ultimately, I decided that the glue was too thick and as the excess did not shake off easily, they needed to be wiped off.  I ended up using an old tiny detail brush to paint the glue on instead.  It seemed to work much better.  

You might notice that the stems seem a little elongated.  I needed that extra stem space to hold the rose with tweezers while I was working on them.  The stem will also be used in this case to help attach the roses to the carousel animals.  I will be making some more paper clay to make ribbons for the animals' decorations, and the roses will be embedded into the clay with a little more glue to keep them in place. In other applications, the stems could either be trimmed or used to mount the flowers to stems. My paper clay recipe is only a few posts back if anyone is interested in learning more on how I made my homemade paper clay.

I have not been able to accomplish much this week other than giving the roses their coats of glue.  I ran out of glue.  I have been using Elmer's Multipurpose Glue-All for years.  I use so much of it that I generally purchase it by the gallon.  I went to my local hardware store to pick up some more.  The store was no longer carrying it.  I looked at the other big box hardware store, and they did not have it either.  I ended up having to order it online.  It should be here Wednesday.  The hardware stores had other types of comparably priced white glue, but rather than saying safe and non-toxic as Elmer's does, they only said ASTM (some number I don't remember) compliant and low VOCs.  Not what I wanted.  

I wondered what was going on with this.  I had never had any trouble finding it before, so I asked ChatGPT what was going on.  The good news is that it is still available, it has not been discontinued.  The problem is that this product is being increasing treated as a specialty product.  It is too strong for school projects and not strong enough to be put with the epoxies and construction adhesives.  It is considered a mid-tier product and is not often stocked in stores anymore, especially not in larger sizes due to shelf space issues.  Even if craft stores carry it, they may only be carrying smaller sizes.  They used to carry larger sizes, because a kid's craft project called Slime needed larger sizes of the glue to make it.  Apparently that craft project has fallen out of favor.  

 So, there you have it, the information on why this product is so hard to find. Your best bet to find it is online.  If you do look for it online, shop for prices.  They varied widely with some sellers charging almost double what other sellers were charging.  This may be because large sellers have more purchasing power than smaller businesses.  I don't know the true answer to that, but be forewarned that the price varies widely.

Check back next Monday or Tuesday for the next post.  I hope to have at least some of the animals decorated with ribbons and flowers.

Starting the Animal's Decorations - Mini Roses - Part 54- Edit Added Photos and Text

If a normal size rose looks right on a real horse, how small does a rose have to be to look right on a horse only five inches tall?  The answer is: really small.  I did not actually measure other than to say this size flower looks right.   

This photo was taken with the flower under a magnifying glass so you could see the detail.  

I made this flower from paper.  The rest of this article is about my process for figuring out how to make a flower that small.  

This is one time that the internet was not a lot of help.  I viewed multiple how-to videos before beginning.  There are plenty of ways to make flowers out there, but they are all about making normal sized flowers.  Cutting down the size of the pieces did not help.  The smallest I could come up with was twice the size of this flower.   Working this small is very difficult.

I also looked online for miniature flowers, but the ones I found were still too large for this project.  So, before I threw in the towel on having flowers on the animals, I decided to develop my own method for making miniature roses.  I did not see anything like this online, but I did not spend more than a few hours searching.  I hope you will find this method helpful.  I tried four different methods and multiple materials before I settled on how to make the roses.

The paper:  I did not try this with newsprint because it was not sturdy enough.  I used some heavy paper from a notepad that I had hanging around the house since about 1994.  The paper is about the weight of printer paper or lightweight card stock.  

The glue:  Elmer's white glue.

Other materials:  two pair of tweezers, sharp paper scissors, pen or ultra-fine marker, ruler, large sewing needle

Step 1

This photo shows the paper from the notepad.  The measurements are 3.5 x 4.5 inches (8.89 x 11.43 cm). Horizontally, I marked off every 1/4 inch (0.635 cm), then used the ruler to draw in the lines.  Vertically I marked points at 2 inches (5.08 cm) and a second 2-inch segment at the 4-inch mark (10.16 cm.).  The last little bit is crossed out as it was not going to be used.

I made two sheets like this.  

Step 2

Once I had the sheets drawn, I cut the pieces apart.  

Each sheet was cut into 1/2-inch x 2-inch (1.27 x 5.08 cm) strips.  Then I cut along the marks at 2 (5.08 cm) and 4 inches (10.16 cm) It made 12 strips with one 1/4-inch (0.635 cm.) piece left over.  The small strip is just a discard.  

Two sheets would yield 24 roses.  I hope that will be enough if I add other decorations to the animals as well.  If not, then I will be making more roses later.  The red background is just the notebook I used so that there would be some contrast.  They were not very visible on the white background of the plastic I use to cover my work surface.

The line down the middle of each piece is a guideline for the next steps of the rose.  You will not see the line in the finished piece.

Step 3

Roll the paper into little cylinders.  I started by drawing the edge of the scissors along the long side of the paper as if I were making ribbon curls.  This makes the paper want to curl and makes the next step easier.  

I wrapped the strips of paper around a large sewing needle; it was about the size of a darning needle.  Once I had it as tightly wrapped as possible, I slid it off the needle, held it between my left-hand thumb and forefinger, grabbed the loose end and pulled tightly to make it as tight as possible.  Then I rolled it between my fingers to make the cylinder want to stay in that shape.

Step 5

I made small cuts on one side of the paper.  The first and last cuts are cut just below the line.  The cuts in between are cut just to but not through the line.  

Once the small cuts have been made, I cut the right angles off each of the small cut pieces.  It should look something like a picket fence.  The points do not have to look exactly the same on each piece.  (See next photo)

Photo for part 2 of Step 5

Step 6

Spread glue along the uncut edge.  Then roll the paper back up into a cylinder, keeping the uncut edge even as it is rolled, and set it aside until the glue is dry.  I found that it was easier to identify which side was the cut edge after it had been rolled back into a cylinder if I folded one of the tiny cut strips out so that I could see it later. 

Photo for Step 6.  Picture was taken under a magnifying glass in order to see it better.

Step 7

Photos taken under a magnifying glass.  My husband took the picture as I needed two hands to hold the tweezers.

Once the glue has dried, hold the base of the uncut edge of the cylinder with a pair of tweezers.  Use the second set of tweezers to fold back each of the cut edges around the cylinder.  Curl the outer edge under.  It will give you two or three layers of petals.  Squeeze the center and twist slightly to give that bud shape in the center.

When the flower is shaped to your liking, dip the flower in white glue and set aside on wax paper until it dries.  

The glue will help the flower to hold its shape.  It eventually will be covered with a slurry of flour paste to harden it a little more before being added to the animals.

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

The Last Two Animals Have Their Saddles - Musings on Next Steps - Part 53

This will not be as long a post this time because I have to be on the road early.  I have managed to make some more clay and put saddles on the other two animals.  

I saved the tiger for the last ones so that I could learn from my mistakes on the first ones.  Fortunately, this clay is very forgiving while it is moist.  Then it dries as hard as stone.  I do not yet know how well it will sand.  The edges are fairly rough, but overall, the flat surfaces are mostly smooth and will not need a lot of sanding.

If you are a new reader and want more information on how I made the clay, scroll back two posts.  If you cannot scroll back, you can look at it by going to the blog directly and then scroll back:  folkartbycaroljones.blogspot .com.  All of my projects for the last decade or so are there.

The other animal that received a saddle was the second horse. I just have not figured out how to move the pictures around.  I used to be able to click and drag the photo where I wanted it to be, but that option does not work any longer.  

I left a little more saddle blanket showing on this animal.  I wanted to add some decorative elements and have some areas to paint.  I may add some clay elements to this to make them stand out.  I had started on this the other day, but it was one of those drop everything days where I had to deal with problems and was not able to get back to the project before the clay started to harden.  I will have to make a new batch of clay, but it will be a smaller batch than the previous ones.

I wish that I could say that it was time to start to sand and paint the figures, but I am not there yet.  The bridles or more accurately halters still need to be added.  That will be a different technique entirely.  While this clay is strong, I am not sure it this clay would be strong enough since these pieces are so small and narrow.  I do have a plan for making the reins, which I will be showing in the next blog post.

Beyond that, I need to talk about the other decorations for the animals.  The intricately carved carousel horses I saw in my youth were bedecked with carved flowers and scrolling ribbons.  I was planning on having some of those features on these animals but have run into a problem.  The flowers would be so small that they are very hard to sculpt.  My hands just are no longer up to working that small.  To give you an idea, since it is hard to judge the scale from these photos, a flower that is 1.3 centimeters in diameter would be too large for these animals.

I actually looked online for small craft flowers thinking that perhaps I could cover them in paper clay.  The 1.3-centimeter ones were the smallest I found.  So, I am on to Plan B and Plan C.  I might be out of my mind to try Plan B.  I went online to learn how to make paper roses.  I will give it a try, even though the bits of paper (or other materials) will be so small that I will be holding the pieces with tweezers.  Even if I could only make a few, it would help.  Before I give up on my idea, I will give it a try.

My Plan C is probably more workable.  Instead of flowers, make little balls and paint them like jingle bells or other flat decorative objects.  It might change the flavor of the piece a bit, but sometimes you just have to say that something else has to be done due to circumstances beyond my control.  

Check back next week for the next blog post.

Using Paper Clay to Make the Saddles - Pics - Part 52

 This week I have been working with the paper clay mix to make the saddles for the animals.  I like this clay mix because it is very soft and easy to shape.  And provided that you can keep from sticking fingers in it once you have it like you want it, it will hold nicely in place even when the animal is standing upright.

 To make this clay I used toilet tissue, water, and white multi-purpose glue. More information on proportions of the mix, scroll back to last week's blog post.  If you are unable to scroll back, visit the blog at folkartbycaroljones.blogspot.com.  Otherwise, you can just wing it easily enough.  The main thing to remember is that you want the tissue damp, add some glue, and then add in more water until the mix is soft and easy to squish into a ball of clay.  Keep working the clay until it is smooth.  

After getting the clay shaped on the animal, I used first smooth the clay with a light touch of water to help get out any lines, fingerprints, or tool marks.  Then I go over it a second time with a fifty-fifty mixture of water and white glue to finish smoothing and seal it with glue.  To date, I have not had one of the accessories develop cracks as it dries.  I have had this problem with some commercial air dry clays.

So far, I have completed three of the animals.  I had to stop and give my hand a rest for a few days.  Sculpting is becoming hard on my hands.  If I overuse them, then I may have to ice and rest them for a couple of days to get the swelling to go down.  

Of course, the animals and their accessories still need to be sanded.  I am hoping that the heat wave will break soon.  While I was sculpting these the temperature was in the upper 90s to 100+ degrees with heat indexes of higher than 100 degrees Fahrenheit.  It is not fun to be out sanding in the sun wearing a dust mask in those temperatures.

The goat and the rabbit (photo below) were covered with a cotton ball clay to give some texture to their hair.  Before the clay was added, they were created using the strip paper method as in the horse above.

The rabbit is the last one I have completed.  I still have one horse and the tiger to finish.  I am saving the tiger for last.  I really wanted to get as much experience with the clay as I could before starting to work on him.

Anyway, that is as far as I was able to get this week.  By next blog post I should have the two other animals' saddles added.

Once the saddles are finished, I will be working on the bridles.  I will be trying a different method to make the bridle parts.  I will be blogging more on that in upcoming posts.

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

Homemade Paper Mâché Clay and Carousel Animals Have Their Saddle Blankets-Pictures - Part 51

I will be showing pictures of the animals with their blankets as I go along with the post.  I don't seem to have as much control over picture placement as I had in previous years.  The animals only have their blankets at this point.  I will also write about how I was able to work with putting the clay on the animals while leaving the hole for the poles for the carousel animals clear (and keeping my fingers out of the clay on one side while working on the other side).  The saddle will be added separately in the next week or so.

 I made my homemade paper clay this week.  I started with one recipe, but found it was too coarse for its intended use.  So, I started over.  I generally make my own paper clay rather than buying a premixed clay or a bag of clay mixture to which you add just water.  These mixtures are expensive (between $7.00 and $30.00 or more depending on size and type) and making paper clay costs so much less (under $2.00 when you consider the cost of the glue and tissue paper).  It is very easy to make and can be made fairly quickly depending on what method you use.  I will get to the method in just a paragraph or two.

I just want to say before I get started that it is not a case of one recipe being right for every project.  Which type of paper mâché method you use depends on the individual project.  Some clays can be made in larger batches and can be kept in the refrigerator for several days; others can only be made in smaller batches and used immediately.  For this project, I needed rather small amounts because of the small size of the animals and because I generally have to work on tight time schedules. I chose this clay because I wanted the blanket to have a cloth-like appearance once it is dry.  

One more thing before I get started, I have been working with paper mâché since I was about seven years old, so sixty plus years ago.  Having worked in it for so long, I rarely measure ingredients.  I work with it until I say, "that looks right."  I have tried to make some measurements for explaining my clay process to help readers who may wish to try it.  It is not exact and you may need to add a little of this or that to get it to the consistency you desire.

So on with the process.  To make this clay I used toilet tissue, water, and white multi-purpose glue. That is all that is in it.  I started by deciding how much toilet tissue I needed.  I was working in small batches, and each batch made about enough to make saddle blankets for two animals and have a little left over to experiment (play) with.  By the time I had completed the second saddle blanket the clay was getting a little tacky.

How did I measure how much toilet paper?  I grabbed a roll of septic safe toilet tissue, (it breaks down faster) held the loose end in one hand and the roll on a finger of the other.  I unrolled the paper until I could spread my arms no further.  That came to thirteen sheets at a time.  I did this four times, so fifty-two sheets.  Then I said that looks about right. 

Next, I ripped each length of sheets into pieces two squares of
toilet paper each, stacked them into pile. Then working four of the two squares at a time I ripped them downwards into about four or five strips.  After that I would grab a set of strips and pinched the strips into about half-inch (approximately 12.7 mm) pieces until I had my container filled with bits of tissue.  Once that was done, I added about two or three Tablespoons (about 15 ml. per Tablespoon) of water and mashed it in with the paper.  At this point I only wanted it to be damp.  Squeeze any excess water out of the paper.

I will note that you could have done put this in a blender with plenty of water, but you have to be careful.  Even toilet tissue has a grain.  If you leave the strips too long, they could wrap around the blade and bind up the blender.  Also, cleanup could be problematic.  You don't want the paper clinging to the blender to go down the drain during cleanup.  

Once the paper was damp, I crumbled it up into small bits between my fingers.  As you can see it greatly reduced in volume.  To that pile of damp paper, I added about three Tablespoons (approx. 45 ml) of white multi-purpose glue to the mix and mixed it thoroughly by squeezing it with my hands.  Note: I was wearing gloves.   Once the glue worked in, the mixture will be a little dry and crumbly.  Add some water at no more than a half-teaspoon (about 2.5 ml) at a time and work it in thoroughly until the clay is completely mixed.  If you add too much water, squeeze out the mixture and add more paper or glue as needed.  You will know it is right when there are no more odd bits of paper and it looks smooth. 

This makes a very soft clay.  I put it between two small sheets of freezer paper and rolled it with my clay rolling pen.  Once it was flat, I cut shapes to size using a story stick rather than getting my clay tools and ruler covered in paper clay. Once the clay hardens it will be difficult to get it off the tools.

In case you are not familiar with a story stick, it is an ancient construction technique used at a time when many people did not read or write.  The foreman would figure out what size something needed to be and mark it on a stick so that people that did not know how to read and measure accurately could make accurate cuts.  In this case my story stick is just a wooden craft stick.  One end is marked with a dot so I would know which end to use to begin the measurement.  The mark closest to the dot is the length measurement in this case.  The mark further from the dot is the width measurement.

With the clay still on the freezer paper, I cut a three rectangles. one for one side of the animal and across its back.  The clay is very soft and when you try to pick it up the shape will deform.  That is okay.  I wanted it soft so that I could sculpt it and smooth it out easily.  I found that a bit of an old file folder slid underneath the clay could lift it off the paper without changing the shape too much.  I used my story stick again to determine where to place the clay and smeared some full-strength white glue on the area, then added the rectangle and shaped it as I wanted.

After the first rectangle was placed on the animal, I would dip my story stick into some water and smooth the clay.  Once it was fairly smooth, I went over it again with a diluted glue mix of fifty percent water and fifty percent white glue for a final smoothing and to make sure that the clay was saturated with the glue.

When adding clay to the second side, I put a dowel through the hole that the carousel animals' pole will go through.  I could hold onto the pole and brace my thumb against the animals' leg which kept me from putting my fingers on the wet clay (most of the time.) on the side I had just worked.  Sometimes I had to rework an area.  I picked up another rectangle and added the glue and clay to the second side.  

Once I had the side pieces smoothed and shaped as I wanted, I would add the third rectangle to the back of the animal using the same method.  The main thing to remember when working on the back is that the clay must stay clear of the hole that the pole will go through.  You do not want any glue or clay in that area because once it is dry it could be difficult to insert a pole through the hole.  If glue had dripped down into the hole clean it as quickly as possible.  In the worst-case scenario you could scrape it out after it dries with a small file.

I also added the belly strap using more or less the same method.  The clay is so soft that it did not want to roll out into a narrow cylindrical (snake) shape.  It kept coming apart, so I did the best I could set it into place and then shape and smooth it as needed.

The animals and their accessories will still need sanding before they are painted.  The clay areas are smooth and dried to a hard finish without cracking.  It takes about two or three days for this clay to dry, so they will need to be braced in a way that nothing is touching the clay during the drying phase.  It is probably best not to touch the clay for at least two days.

The clay for the saddle will be made the same way.  I did not make the saddles at the same time because the clay would have been too thick.  With this moist type of clay there would be a possibility of mold developing.  I thought it would be better to make them as a separate piece.  Keeping the pieces separate will give the saddle more definition.

This is the second horse.  The mane is shaped differently from the other horse but otherwise the pattern is the same.  While I was thinking about how to make the saddle and wondered how I should make the stirrups.  For inspiration I turned to some porcelain carousel horse statues that a friend had recently given me.  They are absolutely beautiful.  To my surprise, I noticed something that I had not paid attention to before.  None of the saddles had stirrups.  They are so ornately cast and painted that I had not even realized that the stirrups were not there.  I think I am going to make the saddles the same way.  It saves a lot of work.  I am not sure how I would make stirrups that small.

This rabbit is the final carousel animal.  He is my least favorite of all the animals.  I originally made six animals, and planned to have two rows of animals, but had to back off that idea when I realized just how large this would make the carousel platform.  Other than plopping it in the center of my living room rug, there was no place in my home with enough space for it.  I had to downsize it to have somewhere to put it.  

My final animal was a cat.  I would rather have used the cat than the rabbit, but it did not work out.  With a single row of animals, the cat was so long that its tail was hitting the nose of the animal behind it.  I either had to remake the cat with its tail in a different position or go with the rabbit.  I chose to go with the rabbit because I did not want to have to start over on the cat.  I hope the rabbit looks better once it is painted.  If I find I cannot live with it, there will be another cat to make.

There is still plenty to do on this project.  Once the saddles are finished, I will start working on the bridles, which will be a completely different method.  I will get into that in a different blog post.  After that, everything will need to be given a good sanding.  (Have I mentioned recently that I really hate sanding.).  Once the sanding is complete, I will be painting the animals and staining the poles for the animals.  Even though there is still much to do, it feels as if the end of this project is coming closer.

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

  

Starting to Make My Paper Clay - Part 50

The painting and sealing of the carousel's column and platforms are complete.  I estimate that it took about nineteen hours of direct working time to complete that section of the project.  Each piece of the carousel has two, and sometimes three layers of paint and two layers of acrylic sealer.    I don't have a lot of patience when it comes to watching paint dry.  It was also a case of having to have a section of time large enough to get in the studio, get set up, paint a section, and clean up. It was frustrating to have that part of the project drag on for so long.  But at least that section of the project is complete.  In a long-term project, you have to celebrate the milestones.  It is what keeps you going instead of giving up,

So now I am moving on to the next big section of the project.  This part of the project is about using paper clay to make the saddles, saddle blankets, bridles, and the ribbon and floral decorations that will go onto the animals.  Hopefully much of this section will go fairly quickly.  Or at least more quickly than the section of painting the platforms.  

I am adding this old photo of the animals just so people

could remember what they look like currently.

I am ready to start making my paper clay.  Yes, I make my own.  Many people wonder why I start from scratch rather than buy some ready-made and usable right out of the package.  Part of that is because if I made it myself, it feels more like my creation.  The other reason is cost.  An eight-ounce package of paper clay costs about ten dollars (US).  A one-pound package of bulk mix that just calls for adding water costs about twenty-five to thirty dollars.  If I make it myself, from products that I already have at home will only cost about three dollars.  As the old saying goes, "A penny saved is a penny earned."

So, I spent a morning unearthing my book on craft materials that I have had for many years.  It is called Recipes for Art and Craft Materials by Helen Roney Sattler, published in 1973.  It is a fairly comprehensive book that covers making your own glues and pastes, paints, clays, casting compounds and other things as well.  I am sure that I could find these same recipes on the internet, but for some of the recipes, people would have to be aware that they existed before they knew to look them up.  We have become so habituated to just walking into a store and picking up a product that we no longer even think about making it or how much it costs just to buy it ready mixed.

I plan to be using a recipe for making an extra soft paper mâché pulp using tissues (or toilet paper) and glue for the blankets and saddles which will be the first step.   I will let you know how well this clay rolls out.  If that should prove too soft, then I will go on to another recipe that is a firmer clay. 

Anyway, the materials are gathered and this week I hope to have at least the saddles and blankets added to each animal.  Each piece must be cut to fit for its particular animal.  Differences in size will require a custom fit around the pole.  I will have new photos next week.  If all goes well, I may even start on the bridles, which will have a different type of process.  

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

Painting Finished - Sealing Underway -Next Up Paper Clay

 I have finished the painting on the body of the carousel.  I have to admit; it took much longer than I thought it would.  Even sanded, the plywood was a bit rough.  Everything needed two coats of paint.  Even then, it seemed a little dull.  I was beginning to wonder whether I should have used some other type of paint.  However, once I started adding the sealer, the color came to life.  It has a wonderful glow to it now.  I am very pleased with it.  Sorry, no picture of it yet.

A satin exterior sealer was what I used on it.  Not that I plan to take it outside, this is what I had on hand.  At first, I had considered a gloss sealer, but I did not have enough to do the whole carousel.  I had some spar varnish, but that tends to yellow over time.  That may actually have made the carousel look like an antique as it aged, but I am not sure how it would look in the long run.  So, I used an exterior grade of acrylic sealer.  It gives the piece enough shine that it looks as if it has depth to it.  Of course, every inch of it needs at least one two coats of sealer.

I am about one-third of the way through sealing the project.  If the weather had cooperated, I might have finished it this week.  It has been hot and muggy and many days with a heat index of over one hundred. When it was not beastly hot, it was pouring rain.  My weather radio kept blasting multiple alerts for severe storm warnings day after day.  I call it my daily dose of terror.

 The humidity affects the drying time.  I needed ventilation for this segment of the project, and it was too humid to open the windows.  I had to paint a small area and then vacate the room because the fumes are not a good thing to be inhaling.

Now that I am coming up on the end of the sealing, I am starting to look at my options for making paper clay.  In past projects, I have made my own paper clay, and I expect to make it for this project also.  Years before the internet came to be, I purchased a book on craft glues, clays, paper mâché. and handmade paints.  I was planning on using one of those recipes because I am familiar with those processes.  There are plenty of recipes online as well for those that don't have access to old books.  I suggest looking at Jonni Good's The Ultimate Paper Mâché website.  There are recipes there.  She also sells books on Amazon.  Another good reference would be to watch Dragonfang's YouTube posts on making paper mâché pumpkins.  They both have a lot of good information.  (A word of warning if you are searching for Dragonfang.  There is also a Marvel character called Dragonfang, and your searches will bring up pages on character.  Search using the name Dragonfang along with the terms paper mâché and pumpkins.)

This week I will be choosing my clay recipe.  I am leaning towards one that uses toilet paper as a base for no other reason that it is already white.  Paper clays made using newspaper are a depressing gray color.  It needs extra coverage with gesso before painting.  

Next week I hope to have some photos of the clay and the first layer of the accessories for the animals.  

Check back next Monday or Tuesday for the first pictures.

More on Carousel Painting - Part 48

 I was setting up the carousel this morning to take a picture for the blog when I realized that I had not painted the gold rim on the base that holds the rotating platform.  I also noticed that the floor that the animals will be on needed some touch ups.  I had painted it while it was upside down in order to keep it off the plastic I was using as a drop cloth while painting it.  When I turned it over the edge that was underneath did not get as much coverage as I would like.

So, it looks like at least another day or two of painting before this is finished.  I wish I had more time to work on it, but this is a hobby and the rest of life has more claims to my time.  I was particularly disappointed because I had planned to start getting out the stuff and starting to make the paper clay for the animal's decorations.  Barring an emergency, I will be starting on it within a week.  

The wooden cut out of a witch and cauldron tacked up on the wall is my inspiration for my next Halloween piece.  I always like to keep another project in mind while finishing up a project.  Having another project lined up helps keep me motivated when a project I am working on is dragging.  I need to finish it so I can get on to the next one.

I find that when I complete a project that I first experience the glow of excitement that comes with successfully completing something.  That is followed by a letdown as I see how much better I could have made the project.  While viewers of a project tend to look at the whole thing at once, I look at the project inch by inch and see all the things I might have been able to do differently.  Once I have gone beyond those feelings, I sometimes have a sense of emptiness, as if the muse has gone and I am alone.  (Actually, muse is a very old term used for an inspirational spirit that is motivating a male, the word damon < yes, spelled with an a > is used for an inspirational spirit motivating a female, but not as many people are familiar with that term.)  I have in the past experienced this feeling of inspiration having left, and it is actually emotionally painful.  You worry that inspiration may never come again.  I keep some future project in mind just so that I have something to focus on so I will not have to feel as if I have no ideas about what to do next.  I may not even start with that project if another idea pops up, but at least I have something to keep ideas churning.  

Anyway, I am looking forward to finally finishing this part of the project and getting on to making the animals saddles, blankets, and bridles.  I hope to be blogging about making the paper clay.  Check back next week on Monday or Tuesday for the next blog post.  

Closing in on a Milestone on the Carousel - Part 47

 I have put in another three hours on painting the carousel.  Painting the carousel has been much more time consuming than I thought it would be. Aside adding a final coat of paint to the top of the carousel platform I gave two coats of gesso to the rims of the top and bottom platforms.  The top edge of the platform has received its first coat of gold paint.  It needs a second and perhaps a third coat of the 14-carat gold paint in order for it to gleam richly.

Regular readers are probably wondering where all the stars are that I was drawing on the stencil I planned to make.  Funny story about that.  The stars are now in limbo.  I was visiting my mother, and I was telling her my plan to use the stars as a means of making sure the top and bottom platforms to line up with the proper holes.  My husband spoke up at that point and said that I did not need to do that.  The screws that hold the top platform to the internal support are set in a pattern and the top will only join the support if the screw holes line up.  Yes, of course they do, so it begs the question of whether or not I need to put stars on the top.  

I guess my main concern is that it might make the carousel look too gaudy.  I want to keep the focus on the carousel animals.  I have decided to hold off on the stars until after the animals are added to the carousel.  If it looks as if it needs more embellishments after that, then I have the plan for the stars more or less ready to go.  I might need to add some more smaller stars to the pattern for the stencil before I cut it.

I was hoping to have the painting finished before this post, but the spare time to work on it just was not there.  It will definitely be finished this week though.  I am so slow these days.  Everything takes me much longer than I think it should.  So, this carousel has been made and painted step by step and inch by inch for however long it takes.

Readers may wonder why I keep changing my mind on things.  That really is the way the creative process works.  Some people start a project with everything worked out in exact detail of what they want to create.  Others, such as I, prefer to have a basic idea of what they want and let the decorative details develop by looking at the piece and asking what wants to be there; letting the space inform me of what it needs.  This allows for an artist to follow flow, which I have found to be essential to creating something that has a special feel to it.  

One more week of painting will finish off that segment of creating the carousel.  Then I can get back to the joy of working on the details of the carousel animals.  Making the animals has been the best part of this project and I am so looking forward to making and adding their decorations and painting them.  That is the last step before putting the carousel together.  It has been a long time coming to this point.  So, hang in there with me readers and I will be on to that shortly.

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

Painting the Top Platform of the Carousel - Part 46

 I am still painting the carousel.  I know my readers are getting tired of waiting for me to finish this part so I can get on with working on the carousel animals again.  But this is how it is sometimes on a long project.  There is a lot of work that needs to be done and the only way to get to the next section is to just continue to work on it until I get through it.  However, I am very close to completing this part of the project.  The top of this platform is the last piece that needs to be painted.

I need to put one more coat on the top of this platform.  There is a section in the center that did not cover well.  My brush was a little too wet, and the center has an area that did an area that did not coat evenly.  I had hoped to get that last coat of paint on yesterday, but it was very humid and that paint took a long time to dry.  I finally had to stop watching paint dry and just get on with my day.  

I did not want to leave the top painted a plain blue.   At one time I had thought about maybe putting a circus tent like top on it but decided that it was already very tall and I did not want to add any more height to it.  However, I did not want to leave it plain so I thought about how I might decorate the top while the paint was drying.

I also had another situation that I needed to address before I went any further with painting.  Regular readers may recall that earlier on in the project holes needed to be drilled through the top and floor platforms so that the poles for the animals could go through them.  The holes were drilled in both platforms at the same time so that they would match up appropriately.  My husband had the forethought to add a couple of registration marks so that I would have an easy way to make sure that the holes were aligned properly.  Slight differences in where the holes were drilled means that not just any hole would do, but the holes that were drilled together must be together to keep the animals perpendicular to the base platform, floor platform, and ceiling platform.  A small variation could cause the pole to lean slightly, which would put extra torque on the pole.  That could cause a pole to snap.  

The registration marks need to be transferred to the carousel permanently.  If I ever need to take it apart, it would be much easier with the registration marks to put it back together again.  So, the question was how to incorporate them into the decorations without them being overly obvious. I decided that the marks would be painted on, but that each mark would be attached to a small star.  One star would be painted at one point, and two stars at the other registration mark with two lines.  If I paint stars all over the top, the small stars and registration marks will not be as easily spotted.

I did not want to just randomly paint stars on the top because I did not want to paint it and then decided that it does not look right.  That would be a lot of sanding and repainting.  So, I pulled out my pattern that has been utilized many times throughout this project.  If you look closely, you can see some of the stars drawn on it.  I decided it would be better to make my mistakes there where I could erase something I did not like.  Once I get the layout to my level of satisfaction, (Or to my acceptable level of dissatisfaction) I will make a stencil and use that to transfer the markings to the top platform.  It is an extra step, but I try not to underestimate my ability to mess something up at the last moment.  I am more of a maker than a painter.  

There will be at least one more week of watching paint dry, and then I will finally be on to working on the animals again.  Some readers might have wondered why I just kept slogging through the painting rather than stop and work on an animal once in a while.  The answer is that the saddles, blankets, and bridles will be made from paper clay.  I was planning on making my own paper clay.  The clay does not keep all that well, and it would have meant making multiple batches of paper clay.  It would be more work and resources to make multiple batches.  Even though the painting has been a bit of a grind, it was better for me to just make the accessories all at once.  The main thing that you have to remember on a long project is that it is mainly a matter of showing up to do the work.

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

Sorry, No Progress This Week -Situations - Post 45

 This week has been unusually hot and humid.  We have been under an Extreme Heat Alert for days.  This area has also been under a Code Red or a Code Purple air quality alert for days from wildfire smoke.   It has been too much to do more than try to breathe and stay cool.  I became somewhat dehydrated and was not feeling well.  I did not realize what was wrong until I stopped sweating and started feeling dizzy when the electricity went out for about four hours during a thunderstorm.  

The heat is supposed to drop today and tomorrow.  I hope to have some quality time in my studio this week.  

Again, sorry for not having anything on the carousel to post this week.  Check back Monday or Tuesday for the next post.

Painting the Carousel Platforms - Part 44

It has been a hot and rainy week here and I spent quite a bit of indoor time painting the carousel platforms this week.  It has been slow going.  I am using acrylic paint, and each piece has needed at least two coats of paint.   The floor platform seen in this picture in green will need a third coat.  I spent about six hours painting on it this week.

In the interest of getting this project done sometime in the next few months, I decided to give up on my grandiose plans for the column of the carousel.  As I blogged last week, my husband needed to be able to see where the central hole was marked for the top platform before I started to paint.  At first, he planned only to drill the main hole but ended up drilling and placing all the screws and made sure the platform was level.  At that point he suggested leaving it together and painting it as it was.  

That was easier said than done.  The platforms are about sixteen inches (40.64 cm.) apart.  I had to hold the platforms on an angle, or duck down and look underneath the top platform in order to paint the column.  The platforms are made from plywood and they are heavy.  And of course, the platforms are round, so they wanted to roll when I held them up on an angle.  So, it was not easy to paint when it was all put together.

Anyway, I decided that I would decorate the central column with spiraling lines and paint the lines as if they were covered with colored lights.  This photo does not show the lights very well, but up close they are very bright.  I used neon paint left over from another project.  The lights are painted orange, green, yellow, and gold.

I still need to paint the lights around the top of the column.  I just ran out of time.  Also, my hand was getting sore after two days of painting.  I needed to rest it for a while.  

There are still more areas that need painting.  Besides the third coat to the bottom of the platform and the lights at the top of the column, I need to paint the rims of all three platforms, these two shown here and the bottom platform that will hold the rotating platform.  I have been holding off on painting the rims because they have some key marks on them to let me know which top and bottom holes go together when I add the animals and their poles.  The platforms were drilled at the same time, and slight variations in where the holes are drilled would make it difficult to keep the animals upright unless the two platforms are properly aligned.  Once the platforms are finished being painted, I will be decoratively repainted on the platforms so they will be there permanently in case I ever need to take the carousel apart.  

I also need to paint the top of the upper platform.  That platform has not been painted yet other than the little knobs.  I painted them while I had the gold paint out for the platform.  The knobs on top are there to help hold the poles upright.  I probably have at least five hours of painting left to finish up this section.  

This is where I left off for the week.  Check back next Monday or Tuesday for the next blog post.

Paper Mâché Carousel - Attaching the Column - Part 43

This week was a holiday weekend.  I did not get very much done on the project.  I spent hours in the kitchen rather than in the studio.  At this point in life, I would have to say that cooking up something "special for the holidays" is highly overrated.   

Apart from that, the weather has been so hot that it has been too hot to go into the studio.  The real temperature was 102 F (38.88 C) and the heat index (feels like) temperature was 110F to 120 F) (43-48 C).  Even with air conditioning, which ran non-stop for three days, it was too hot to stay in the room.  Just standing there was causing me to break out into a sweat.  It was miserable outside and inside.  All we could do was sit in front of the fan and try to stay hydrated.  It really was not conducive to getting anything done.

The only thing that was accomplished on the carousel this week was that the floor and ceiling of the carousel are now attached with screws.  I had thought that my husband was just going to just drill one center hole in the ceiling plate at this point so we would know where to attach it to the center of the column. However, he ended up drilling all the screws in because it was too difficult to make sure everything was level and plumb with it only having one screw in it.  

We did assemble the whole carousel to make sure the holes were keyed to its matched set. When the floor and ceiling were drilled, they were drilled together all at once.  Slight variations in the drilling meant that I had to make sure that the holes that were meant to be together were still paired or else the animals' poles would not be completely upright.  Too much of a slant could cause the pole to break or the ball on the underside to drag at a poor angle.  After all that, my husband suggested I just leave the column together and paint it with the ceiling in place.  I did not get a picture of it together again.  Working in a really hot room was not conducive to thinking about taking pictures.   

I guess this means I will be painting the column very simply just due to the difficulty of trying to paint while ducking my head under the ceiling platform.  Sometimes simpler is better anyway.  I have a new idea and I think it will look great and keep from distracting from the animals.  

Check back next Monday or Tuesday and see how the painting turns out.

Paper Mâché Carousel - Painting the Platforms - Part 42

 This week I have been working on painting the platforms for the carousel.  It takes much longer to paint than I would like.   

Each of the platforms is in a different stage of painting.  Even though the plywood was sanded before painting, it still was rougher than surfaces I normally use for painting.  I think I have worn out a brush from scrubbing the paint into the striations in the wood.

This photo shows the underside of the base for the carousel.  It has received its final coat of green.  The wooden ball feet have been painted with two coats of 14 karat gold paint.  

The red spot on the right is where the cord will come through from the other side of the platform where the rotating platform will sit.  It is lined with wool felt to keep the cord from rubbing on the wood.  I will also add some electrical tape around the cord for extra protection.

I still need to seal the paint.  I will use varnish as a sealer.  I hope to get all the platform painting finished (or at least most of it) before I start on the sealer coats.

This photo shows the ceiling side of the upper platform.  It needs another coat of paint.  After the two coats of gesso, I painted it with Prussian Blue.  I was actually thinking of doing a night sky with stars but decided it was too dark.  I painted over that with Cerulean Blue, but it needs another coat of paint.  I am thinking of mixing a little Titanium White with it to lighten it up a little more.  

The other side of this platform will be the roof of the carousel.  I have not done any painting on that yet.  I still need the holes drilled for the screws that will hold this platform to the central column.  

Hopefully those holes will be drilled today.  The temperature today is fairly moderate at 86F.  For the next few days after that it will be 100 to 103F (39.44C).  We are well into a blazing summer here.

The central column with its paper mâché outer column has received a second coat of gesso.  At least you can no longer read the words on the newsprint that was used to make the external column.

It has come down to crunch time on making a decision on how to decorate this part of the carousel.  I have gone through so many possibilities of how to paint this.  Things I have considered are adding mirrors to reflect the horses, painting a forest scene, painting it to look like a tree trunk, and adding gilded pieces to make frames and painting something in the frames.  

There are so many ways to go.  One part of me wants to make this a really ornate carousel.  The other part of me says to simplify the column and keep the main focus on the animals and how they are decorated.  At this point, simplifying is winning.  I really want to get finished with the painting so I can get on to decorating the animals and getting them set onto the carousel platform.  I have been working on this project for over a year now.  I would like to see it completed.

Once again, I am showing the photo of the first test of the movement of the carousel.  It helps me to see what I am working towards.   The animals go up and down and the platform rotates.  

The animals have not yet been painted.  The carousel has two horses, a tiger, a ram, and a rabbit.  I want to add some flowers, blankets, and saddles to them before painting.  There is still quite a bit of work to do on them.  

This is all the progress I made this week.  Check back next week on Monday or Tuesday for the next update.