Corrections on the Carousel - Part 32

It has been a week.  There is a lot going on now that Spring has arrived.  This week I have not had much time to put into my carousel project.  What time I did spend was working on fixing some problems that have cropped up.

Last week, I worked on drilling the holes in the animals so that they would be able to be mounted on their dowels.  That was a lot of work, and I had to give my hands a few days of rest before proceeding.  When I did finally get a chance to work on the next step, things just started to go a little wrong.  Fixable, but definitely some things needed change.

The problem started with the top layer of the carousel.  Regular readers may remember that there are small spheres that needed to be drilled to fit the dowels.  They were glued over holes that had been drilled in the plywood.  Their purpose is to help keep the dowels perpendicular to the other platforms.

I was assembling the animals and the layers of the platforms to give the carousel its full test run.  The previous tests on the carousel were done with only a couple of animals to make sure that the animals would stay on the track as planned.  The trouble started when I was tilting the top layer to insert the dowels.  Even though I had checked to make sure the drilled spheres were firmly attached before I started, they immediately started to roll when I started to push the dowels through.  The problem is that the spherical shape did not have enough gluing surface to give the spheres a firm hold.  So, I had to begin again on that segment.  I had to file off the old glue and then file down the bottom of each sphere to have a flatter gluing surface.  For good measure, I also used a thicker glue than before. That seemed to fix that part of the problem.  

I have not totally addressed the second part of the problem.  If you have been following this project from the beginning, you would know that I have had to make some changes from my original plans.  The main change was that I needed to downsize the carousel. I had originally planned to have two rows of three animals.  The problem was that to make that happen, the carousel was so large that I had absolutely nowhere to put it.  I cut the size down to eighteen inches in diameter and at first planned to use four animals, then decided that five animals looked better.  (In art, odd numbered gatherings look better than even numbered gatherings.)  So, I drew the pattern and my husband drilled in the five holes.  When I had set the animals out on the pattern everything looked okay, but it was only after the animals were mounted on the carousel that I could see the problem.

It was all fine until I started to put the animals on the carousel for the test.  I had wanted to use the two horses, the tiger, the ram, and the housecat.  It turns out the cat's tail is so long that it brushes the nose of the animal behind it.  I had also made a rabbit when I was making the six animals.  I think I can make it work if I substitute the rabbit for the cat.  The rabbit is a little less long and has a short fluffy tail.  The tiger may also be a little close to the other animals as well.  I did not get a chance to check that because by that time I was a little upset and thought it was better to quit for the day until I calmed down and had a little perspective on the problem.    I was really hoping that I would have a new picture to show you with all the animals on the carousel.  That is where I left off on the project this week.

So, the project is not ruined, it merely needs a little change to set things right.  I have a really busy week, and it is unlikely that I will even have a chance to work on it until the weekend.  I have some choices to make.  I can use the rabbit instead of the cat; I could cut off the cats tail and replace it with a differently shaped tail that would not be in the way; or I can change course and decide to make more horses and just have horses on this carousel and use the other animals on a smaller carousel.  I won't be able to decide until I can get back in the studio and work it out.    I will let you know in the next blog post. 

Check back Monday or Tuesday for the next post. 

  

The Next Step for the Carousel Animals - Part 31

 Today's post may seem a little short, but I have been working on this process for the past week.  I really made a lot of progress in small places, although I did not take as many photos.

Last week I was gluing up parts of the carousel including the wooden ball that sits on a dowel.  That ball end of the dowel is the part that will ride over the bumps to make the animals go up and down.  This week I wanted to get the animals ready for the dowel end that will be the pole to be able to go through the animals.  I had hoped to run an initial test with all the animals on the platform.  Unfortunately, getting the dowels through the animals was harder than I thought.

This is a view of the Ram, from above.  The ram was the hardest of the animals to make a hole in.  The ram's fleece was made from paper clay.  It felt like it was made from concrete.  I had been using an awl to poke through the initial hole on some animals, but this one was a no go on the ram.  I liked the awl because it was long enough that I was able to poke both the top and bottom pilot holes at the same time.  The paper clay was so tough that the awl could not be poked through it.  

I ended up pulling out a small hand drill that I keep in the craft room.  The good news was the drill was able to get through the paper clay with minimal effort and no additional damage.  The bad news is that it is a small drill and the drill bits were not long enough to go through and drill the second hole at the same time.  It took a lot of meticulous measuring to get the second hole in place.

This is the hole on the underside of the Ram.  The holes were not drilled that large to begin with on any of the animals.  I drilled smaller holes and then used a small round file to work on the holes to make them larger.  It required a lot of testing to make sure the holes fit the dowel firmly.  They needed to be large enough for the dowel to slide through the animal but tight enough to fit snugly for it to hold when it is glued to the dowel.

While I was filing, I had to keep checking to make sure the holes were in alignment.  So, it was filing the circle a little bit and check, file and check, repeat until done.  

I did this for all the animals.  The horses were easier because they were just paper mâché strips and flour paste.  The awl poked through those easily.  The ram, tiger, cat, and rabbit all had additional layers of paper clay to form their fur.  

Anyway, this is a picture of the ram on its stick.  It has not been glued to the stick yet as there is much work to do on all the animals before they are ready for permanent mounting.  They need to have the decorations added and painted before they are mounted for the last time. In this photo the stick is not perpendicular, just propped up against a lamp to give you an idea of how the animals will look.  

By the time I finished the last animal, I was pretty much ready to quit for the week.  It was enlightening as to how thick the paper mâché was.  I think it was nearly a quarter of an inch (6.35 mm) thick on both the back and belly of the ram.  I think that I will have plenty of area for gluing on this.

Anyway, that is the progress for this week.  Check back next Monday or Tuesday for the next blog post.

Working on Gluing Things Together - Carousel Project - Part 30

 This week I did not have a lot of time to work on the project, but I have started to glue pieces together.  Things are starting to move quickly on this project.

These pieces are the dowels that will hold the animals and the wooden knobs that will drive over the bumps that will make the animal go up and down.  The drilling was not perfectly sized, and I had to use a rasp on each one to get the final fit.  I also found that the dowels are not exactly symmetrical also.  

The dowels will be set aside until it is time to mount the animals on them.  It is another one of those "which came first the chicken or the egg moments."  I would like to go ahead and paint them while they do not have the animals mounted on them, but I have to glue the animals to the pole because the glue will not hold as well on paint.  As one person on the internet had explained in a video I watched years ago, "the hold of the glue would only be as strong as the hold of the last coat of paint."  His advice was spot on and although I no longer remember who that was, I would like to thank him for that piece of sage advice.

I am not sure I have mentioned the size of these round platforms recently.  Each of the plywood platforms is eighteen inches (45.72 centimeters) in diameter and one half inch (12.5 mm) thick.
  

The round, flat wheel shapes have been glued onto the second layer of plywood.  This layer is where the animals will be placed. They have been drilled out to slightly larger than the dowels (pictured above) because they are guides to help hold them straight up and down.  The dowels need to be able to move freely with no friction.  The dowels will be inserted upwards from below the platform and the knobs on the ends will rest on the bumps that make the animals go up and down.  

I might have preferred some differently shaped pieces here, but I wanted to use what I could find at the local craft store rather than trekking into the city to find better pieces at a wood working store.  

 This photo shows the third platform which forms the roof.  The dowels with knobs will come up from beneath the roof and poke through the holes in the knobs.  Once again, the knobs will help guide the dowel to keep going straight up and down.  I had actually thought that this might be a set of the wooden wheels would be underneath these knobs to make a more decorative look on this section, but I think that it made for a better glue joint without them.  The wheels are not flat on both sides.  One side has a small indentation in it leaving just a couple of thin areas that make for a very small gluing area.

At this point the dowels have not been cut to their final length.  I have not yet decided whether I want the dowels to be flush with the top of the knobs or whether I want to have them extend slightly higher than the knobs to show how the mechanism works.  

The main thing is that the dowels need to come up into the knob to reinforce the dowel being plumb.  The rotating platform will drag the knobs on the dowels over the bumps, and the friction is going to cause the knobs to slightly lag behind the platform.  The reinforced areas will help keep the drag to a minimum. (See previous blog posts for a photo of the bottom platform with the bumps attached.)

I gave the glue twenty-four hours to dry before dry fitting the platforms together (along with the oatmeal box that is a stand in for the central column) and gave it a test to make sure that everything was lined up.  The knobs on the dowels fit across the bumps and everything stayed in line.  The knobs went up and down as hoped.  I was ecstatic!  I can hardly wait to see what this looks like with the four other animals attached.

This photo is the same from last week.  I did not take another after the test.  The animals have not yet been mounted onto the dowels.

Once again, many thanks to my husband who did the sawing and drilling and helped out with technical advice.  This project is much the better for his input and encouragement.

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

A Sneak Peak at How the Carousel Build Will Look and Project Update - Part 29

 This week I was able to put some of the parts of the carousel together to see the shape of things to come for the carousel.  I won't keep readers in suspense.  I am blogging about this first because I know that most readers will want to see that.  This is the first picture.  Although nowhere near completed, it gives me some inspiration for the future of the project.

The bottom platform holds the rotating mechanism (see previous posts for photos of that).  I will post more pictures of it in future posts.  The second platform will be for the animals and will have a plank wood floor overlaying the plywood.  I have not yet decided on whether to cover the first layer with a curtain or leave it open so people can see how the mechanism works.  I cannot completely close it in because the rotating mechanism has an on/off switch and an eye so it can be turned on and off by remote control.  Either way, it needs some kind of access.

At this point, the top looks a little high, but that is because the horse is not yet fitted to the pole.  It is just propped up against it.  Once the horse has the holes drilled for the pole to go through it, the horse will not be standing on the platform.  It will be about a half an inch off the ground.  It needs some head room to make sure that when the horse is moving over the higher section of the bumps below that it has enough clearance to make it look right.

Although the animal forms are complete, they do not yet have the saddles, bridles, or the flower and ribbon decorations.  I did not want to start that part of the project yet until I knew where I needed to drill the holes to mount the animal on the pole.  I cannot begin the painting of the animals until all of that is complete.  For those new to the carousel blogs, I say animals not horses because there are different animals on this carousel.  It will have two horses, a house cat, a tiger, and a ram.  I had seen a carousel once that had those animals and more, and that carousel was an inspiration for this piece.  Although now, seeing this prancing horse on the carousel makes me sort of wish I had made all horses.  I hope that will pass.  I don't want to spend months making more horses, but I remind myself that there is still time.

Imagine the future top of the carousel.  It will not be flat.  I am thinking it will have a multi-colored top that will look like a circus tent.  The protruding parts of the dowels will be cut down to an inch or half an inch above the ball on the roof.  More on the reason for those balls will be in future posts.

The center pillar, which at the moment is a full box of oatmeal to make it sturdy enough to hold up the plywood, will be the oatmeal box reinforced externally and internally to make it strong enough to carry the weight.  It may have some other filler in the center for extra support (but not oatmeal).  Once that is completed it will be painted and probably have some mirrors on it to reflect the animals as they go around the circle.  

Anyway, this is the first glimpse I have had of how the carousel might work.  It is just the basic start of the project, but it has given me a lot of encouragement.  I needed it.  In long term project like this it can be discouraging at times.  When I think of how much work needs to be done to complete it sometimes, I just want to crawl into a corner somewhere.  The only way to combat that is to focus on just the next step.  That is all I have to do today is the next step.  The project will finish in its own time.  

I do sometimes sell a piece when I have held it long enough to become bored with it, but I do not like to do things on commission because I don't like to be under pressure to complete a project.  Some people thrive on pressure, but I am not one of them.  Making things is my "happy place" where I go to escape the stresses of life.  I don't want to complicate that.

Today's project update is to show that the holes have been drilled out for the balls to fit onto the dowels that will be the poles for the horses and the ones that will sit on the roof.  The craft store did not have the balls and wheels with the size hole that I needed.  That is probably just as well, because I am finding that the dowels are not exactly uniform throughout its length.  Even after drilling, I am finding that I need to do a little filing with a small file to make the balls fit where I need them to fit.  Some of them have to be tight enough to hold when glued in place.  Others need to be loose enough to support the dowel but allow for free movement.  

So, as I said earlier, I only need to focus on the next step.  One step at a time this project is moving forward.

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

Testing and Fine Tuning the Base - Part 28

 I gave the base its first test.  It was difficult and I hope my post today will save my readers some time and aggravation should anyone decide to try it.  The problem can be described as "which came first the chicken or the egg."  The test was difficult because the bumps were only held down by tape.  The other part was that without the rest of the structure built, holding the ball and stick in its proper position was not easy, the stick kept shifting position.  And a third problem is that since the platform that would hold the animals was not yet glued to the rotating platform, the drag from the ball sliding across the bumps pulled the base off center.  So, we had to come up with a solution.  My husband and I had to come up with a way to test the design.  We knew that it could require some fine tuning.  But I am getting ahead of myself here let me back up a step and to from there.

This photo is a showing the top two carousel platforms taped together with the pattern on top.  The holes were drilled through both pieces at once.  My husband also added a few registration marks so they could be matched up again in case it became a problem later and it was important to use the holes matched together with their original partner.

We tried to use them with the first test by setting the rotating stand in place and putting the ball and stick between the platforms and turning the rotating platform on while holding the stick in place by hand.  That did not work.  The tape was not strong enough to hold down the bumps, and the drag of the ball and stick pulled them up and out of line.  Without the internal pillar that will be the main support of the roof holding up the third platform, we could not get the stick to stay upright and the ball in the center of the bump.  I will also add that we had not yet drilled the hole to make the stick fit into a ball and were using an unglued prototype. 

We knew that the bumps, cut from a 2x4 plank would need a little fine tuning.  It was better to cut them a little large and cut them down as needed.  We had to make sure they were in correct position before we made any cuts.  My husband came up with the solution.  We place the two platforms with the pattern on top of the rotating platform and put a flashlight on top of a hole.  The light shining through the hole showed where the stick would sit when it was straight up and down.  With that we were able to see where the bumps needed to sit for it to be going over the center of each bump.  My husband was able to determine which pieces needed to be cut or repositioned.  He put tape down on the wooden platform and marked each piece that was out of line.  

After that, he was able to cut a little off some of the pieces as needed to make them fit.  After that we did another flashlight test.  When all the pieces were deemed to be in line, I marked the positions and glued down the bumps and the center platform.  (In case you missed this in a previous post, it turned out that the rotating platform by itself was about a half inch too low for my project. The center piece is the workaround for that.)

I just wanted to say another word about the rotating display stand that I am using to turn the carousel.  It has an electrical plug.  It is not battery powered.  This platform comes with a remote control.  That was important for this project because it would be difficult (but not impossible) to reach under the carousel to turn it on and off otherwise.  It is weight rated for 45 pounds, so there should not be any issue with the weight of the plywood.  It also has some features that I will have no need for, such reversing the rotation and also having the rotation pause at degrees of your choosing, and more that I have not even played with yet.  

Anyway, with those tests complete, I marked the new positions and glued down the bumps and the platform for the rotating stand.  That is where I left off on the project this week.  I wanted to give the glue time to dry before going further.

Check back next Monday or Tuesday for the latest on the project.

The Wooden Carousel Base - Part 27

 I am making progress on the carousel base.  The three round plywood platforms have been cut.  It took so long because the weather has been crazy around here.  We had two days that were beautiful with temperatures at 85 and 87 degrees Fahrenheit (29.44 and 30.55 C.)  I admit that it was so nice to be able to get outside, that my husband and I decided to take some time off from everything and get outside and enjoy the nice weather.  The day after it was 87F. out, it snowed.  We only received an inch, but we had to wait for the snow to melt before sawing the wooden circles.

This photo shows the first platform with the bumps that will make the animals go up and down.  At the moment they are only taped in place until we make a full test run.  The test was delayed because I found that the bumps are about half an inch too high once the bead that will hold the dowel that travels over the bumps was added.  The height of the bead made it about half an inch (12.7 mm) higher than the height of the carousel turntable.  I will post more about testing the carousel on the next post.

Anyway, the solution to that problem was to add a center platform to raise the base of the turntable. Again, this caused a delay in the project due to rain.  We don't have a space that could be used indoors for this type of work.  

Once we test the carousel, the center platform will be glued in when I glue in the bumps.  At some point, a hole will have to be drilled into the base so that the electrical cord can be threaded through it.  This base will have feet attached to the bottom to lift it up enough to keep it off the electrical cord.  I do not want to drill the hole until we know exactly where everything will sit.  

Hurray! The most intimidating part of the project has been completed.  After the test, we may have to fine tune the humps just a little bit.  

Check back next Monday or Tuesday for a new update on this project.

Starting to Build the Carousel Base

 After a few weeks of getting nowhere on this project, I am finally starting to get back on track.  The parts have arrived and the weather has at least temporarily cleared.  One of the bigger hurdles has been reached.  The humps that will cause the animals to go up and down have been cut.  Many thanks to my husband for helping me design the bumps and cutting and sanding them for me.  He took my basic design idea and helped me to figure out what needed to change.  This part of the project is going to be so much better for his input.

The photo shows the wooden bumps on a poster board mockup of the base for the carousel.  They will eventually be glued (and possibly screwed into) a half inch (1.27 centimeters) plywood.  I am waiting for my husband to cut out the plywood circles.  I will need three of them.  One for the base that the bumps will be glued to, one for the floor that will have the carousel animals on it, and one to be the base of the roof.  

The platform that will make the carousel rotate will sit in the center of this bottom base and will also be the primary support for second level.

We also decided that I could fit five animals on the carousel.  I had been thinking of just using four, but the odd number actually looks better.  Right now, I am thinking that I will use the two horses, the tiger, the house cat, and the ram.  The rabbit will be turned into a free-standing figure as a stand-alone project.  I was still considering making the base larger to accommodate the rabbit, but the issue is that this is already a large project and I just do not have the room for the larger carousel.  Currently, the base is eighteen inches (45.72 cm.) and would have to increase to (60.96 cm) in order to add the other animal. 

(Sorry for the open space.  The blog platform will not allow me to post the pictures where I want them.  Another paragraph or so will be below.)

This photo shows the rotating platform I will be using for this project.

Some of the carousel animals that will be used.  The house cat is missing from this photo.  The horses are temporarily supported by some props as they do not stand alone.  

Hopefully, my husband will have time to cut out the plywood circles this week.  I am looking forward to getting through the mechanical part of this project so I can get back to working on decorating and painting the animals.  

Check back next Monday or Tuesday for the next post.

 

Parts are Here - Getting the Carousel Project Back on Track

 So, apologies for no post last week.  I was surprised to find that the last blog post had been saved as a draft rather than published when I signed on to do the blog today.  There was not much to report.  It was mainly a rant about delayed shipping of items I needed for the carousel and about the wretched weather we have been having.  We had another snowstorm last week and are expecting freezing rain and snow once again tonight into tomorrow.

The good news is that the rotating base for the carousel arrived just yesterday.  It took a couple of weeks for it to arrive.  Some combination of bad weather and parts not in local warehouses had keep it in limbo for 15 days.

The rotating base will sit on top of a wooden circle that will hold the shaped wooden bumps that will make the animals go up and down.  

A second wooden circle will sit on top of the rotating base.  The carousel animals will be mounted on that level.  A center column will hold up the roof.  I may or may not need extra supports on the edges of the roof.

A third circle will form the base for the roof of the carousel. I plan to put a tent type top made of paper mâché over that.  

I suppose that the good part of having the parts delayed was that it has given me time to rethink how the animals will be mounted onto the posts that will hold them up.  I am not sure that it was going to work as I had thought in my original plan.  I think I was missing a piece that needed to be there.  More experiments will follow.  

This photo shows the cat with a brace underneath it.  The cat does not stand on its own.

I am also considering whether I want to replace the cat and rabbit with the two horses on the carousel.  The cat and rabbit may end up as freestanding sculptures.  At one point I had considered making two carousels, one with horses and one with animals.  However, I am losing time on this project and really need to get a carousel finished.  I have so many other projects that I want to get started on, and I do not want to start another one with this project unfinished.

Check back next Monday or Tuesday for the next post.

Ordered/Purchased Parts for the Carousel

 The storm passed and almost all the ice has melted in the yard, and I ventured out for parts for the carousel.  My first trip was to my local craft shop.  Technically, I do not like this particular craft shop.  It is the size of a large grocery store, and you would think it had a lot of craft items for sale.  However, half the shop is seasonal products, paper goods, and home decor.  I guess that is what it takes to keep a craft shop open these days, but you would think that they would have a large selection of craft products.  Their craft products are minimal, and many items are frequently out of stock.  I was able to find some of what I wanted, but not everything I needed.  But I did manage to find some things, and I am ready to get started.

I have sketched out the deck where the carousel animals will be so I have an idea of where to place the animals and where the bumps that will make the animals go up and down will be placed. The cat is currently braced by a cardboard roll because it has two feet in the air and will not stand on its own.

The carousel will require three thin plywood circles.  The first level will be where the bumps will be placed and the motorized display stand that turns the carousel will be installed.  (I decided that I did not want to get into cutting out gears for this project.) I have ordered a multi-speed revolving display stand that comes with an electric plug and a remote control.  It should be here on Friday.  The display stand will be installed on the first plywood circle and be attached to the second circle.

The second plywood circle will be the deck that the animals are on.  The center will have a cardboard/paper mâché center post that will help support the roof.

The third plywood circle will be part of the roof.  The pinnacle of the roof will be paper mâché.  Which I hope to make look like the big top of a tent with a flag will be painted.  This project is getting more ambitious than anything I had originally planned.

The bumps will be made from a heavy cardboard tube sawn in half to make an arch, then cut into one-inch-wide pieces.  Each tube will have a plastic strip that will form a ramp leading up to the bump so that there will be a smooth transition on the up and down movements.  I may fill the inside of the arch for added support.

What I purchased at the craft store were the balls with holes drilled into them and wooden rods that will be inserted into the balls.  True to form, the ball with the correctly sized hole was sold out.  I had to purchase balls with smaller holes that will have to be drilled to fit.  That is the next step.

I still need to go to the hardware store to purchase the plywood and some brass rods.  The wooden rods will be inserted into the brass rods.  The brass rods will also be part of the supports for the wooden roof. At least I hope it will be brass rods.  It may come down to what they have in stock and how much brass rods cost these days.  

Anyway, the plan is set.  One more trip out for supplies, and I should be ready to put the plan in action.  Many thanks to my husband for his technical support.  I really am not very mechanically inclined and was feeling really intimidated by this part of the project.  I could not move forward until I had a plan for this part of the project.  I needed to know how it was going to move and how wide the holes would have to be that need to be drilled into the animal for the tubes.  Once this part of the project is built, I can get back to what I like best; paper mâché and the clay decorations for the animals.

I am sorry for the late post this week.  Check back next Monday or Tuesday for the next post.

More Weather Disruptions - So Experimenting/Playing with Glue and Color for Future Mobile Project

 Severe winter storms have continued to disrupt my work on the carousel.  Although main roads were clear early on, it took twelve days to get to the neighborhood roads.  Days of temperatures in low teens to single digits Fahrenheit have kept the icy roads in place.  Schools started back in person just this past Friday and then had to release early due to another snowstorm.  A windstorm came through with forty mile per hour wind gusts.  The wind chill was below zero.  Some of the ice melted during the day and refroze night after night.  The yard is still mostly covered with snow and ice.

The icy streets and cold winds have discouraged me from going out to the craft store.  Until I do get out, my carousel project is at a standstill.  The good news is that we may have one more day of really cold weather before we return to what would be normal temperatures for this area.  Although I have felt frustrated about not working on the project, I found that what I really needed was a good rest.  Spending days with a book and a warm blanket have restored my sense of peace.  I have had a lot going on, and I had been pushing and pushing trying to get everything done.  I was worn out and running on caffeine and adrenaline. I did not even realize how burned out I was.  I feel much better now and I am looking forward to getting out and about.

In the meantime, I headed back into my studio to play around a little bit.  I had seen some posts on the internet of people making faux stained glass by using glue and food coloring.  I decided to give it a try.

I tried Mod Podge and food coloring for the first few pieces and later changed over to Elmers Multi-Purpose with food coloring for later experiments. (I had a lot more Elmer's than Mod Podge.)  I had a few questions that I hoped to learn.

• How well did the glue mixture look and peel off on different substrates
• How translucent was the piece
• Could you make complex shapes
• How flexible/strong were the pieces once peeled up
• Could you paint a different color over top of the first one 
• Could you scribe through the dots to make see through areas
• How did the dots react if decoupaged onto another piece of paper

Here are some of my findings. 

The large sheet of paper that most of the dots were on is a sheet of freezer paper.  I painted the dots and leaves onto the freezer paper with a paint brush.  The dots peeled up well and were fairly translucent.  The dots also easily peeled off a sheet of clear plastic report cover.  The downside was even though the food coloring and glue were thoroughly mixed, when the glue dried, the food coloring tended to pool in spots, making some areas darker than others.  This is most noticeable on the maple leaf.  The dots peeled off the plastic report cover but were streakier than ones painted on the freezer paper.  I also painted some of the dots on the plastic cover with gesso before painting with the glue.  They looked the worst of all, and the gesso did not peel off the plastic.  As expected, the dots did not peel off poster board, printer paper, or paper towel.

The dots painted on the paper towel were interesting.  I had used a two-ply paper towel.  The paint and glue mostly stayed on just the first layer, and the paper towel tended to crumple up as it dried.  I tried that experiment again with a single ply.  I made sure to paint it down firmly on the freezer paper.  It dried flat and was quite strong.  I feel that it could have a hole punched into it and it would stand up to being hung on a string.  The green color glowed nicely when held near a light but was not translucent enough to be see through.  

When the paper towel was held up to a light, (third photo) each piece glowed nicely, but pooling spots and streaks from the paint brush were visible.  Perhaps a different paint brush might have made a difference, but overall, the pieces were disappointing.

The oak and maple leaves peeled up nicely even though they had some narrow and pointed places.  I was able to paint another color over them without it running one color into another.

The shapes were not as flexible as I would have hoped.  There was some bend to them, but if too much pressure was applied, the piece would snap.  I was hoping that they would be strong enough to punch a hole in them and hang them on a string, and that might work, but the smeary streaky discs were not what I had hoped for as part of a project.

The pink dot near the center of the first picture was used to see if you could make see through areas.  Once the glue set up a little bit, I used the tip of a wooden skewer to carve through the dot.  The dot stayed together even when a spiral was carved into it.

And finally, I wanted to know how well the pieces would work if decoupaged onto another pieces of paper.  That was the big surprise.  In the second photo, you can see that when decoupage medium was used, the blue dots smeared across the page.  None of the other colors ran.  So be forewarned if you should try to use them on a journal page.  I had hoped that the dots would be translucent enough that you could see writing underneath them, but they were too opaque for that.  

I tried one other experiment, but so far that one has not worked out.  I wanted to know if I made a dam of hot glue and made it two layers high, how that would affect a deeper pouring of the glue mixture.  I checked it this morning and it was not a success.  The glue stuck to the hot glue and pulled up the shiny freezer paper.  I tried to push the dot off the paper, but after seventeen hours, the glue had not set up all the way.  I ended up just gushing sticky glue over my fingers.  I am leaving the other one until tomorrow, and I will try again to see if a thicker dot would look better than the thin ones.

All in all, I do not think the glue shapes would work on a project that I hope to make in the future.  I want to make a mobile of lightweight leaves that would swirl around in a breeze or when the air conditioner or heater turned on.  I had made a mobile with leaves made from air dry clay and painted with an air brush.  It looks okay, but the clay leaves are so heavy that air from the ac/heat is not strong enough to move it.  It only spins if you give it a push.  I am hoping to make a better one that will spin and sway easily one of these days.  I just have to find the right medium.

Anyway, it was a fun day or two of playing with glue and color just to see what they would do.  Soon I will be out to get the pieces I need to get on with the next stage of the carousel.

Check back next Monday or Tuesday for the next post.

Winter Storm Disrupts my Plans

Our area has had a massive winter storm.  This storm started as snow, changed to hours of sleet, then hours of freezing rain.  Then the temperature dropped and everything froze solid.  We had between half to three-quarters of an inch of ice on everything.  The first couple of days after the storm, the sun would come out, and the temperature would come up to just a few degrees above freezing.  That caused some surface melting, which froze again as soon as the sun went down.  Everything turned to slick ice.  Then we settled in with days that temperatures never rose above freezing.  Our neighborhood looks like one big glacier.

I took this picture of the backyard this morning.  The yard is a solid sheet of ice.

The snowplows have been having a difficult time trying to clear the streets. Although the main streets are now clear, most neighborhood streets have not been plowed.  It is slick going on those roads.  My husband and I have been out only once to pick up some groceries and take some supplies to my mother.  A second storm was predicted to come through, but it stayed south of us.  Another storm is predicted for later this week.  

I was at the point of making a trip out to look for the items I needed to make the track for the carousel.  Due to the bad weather, the shopping trip has been postponed until there has been some significant ice melt.  Not all shopping center parking lots have been cleared.  It is not worth risking a slip and fall over some craft items.  I have not wanted to place an order online, because I was concerned that the ice could cause a delivery person to slip and fall.  I saw two of my neighbors have multiple slips and falls trying to traverse the frozen ice to bring in groceries.

Anyway, it has been good to take a break.  During this freezing weather mostly what I have wanted to do was drink something warm and curl up with a blanket and a good book.  The weather will clear sooner or later, and I will be back to working on the project.  

Planning the Carousel Base - Part 26 of the Project

 I am publishing the blog a day early due to weather conditions.  A major winter storm is moving through the area, and declarations have gone out stating that people should be prepared for multi-day power outages.  Like many people, I have spent a fair amount of time preparing for the storm. I wanted to get something on the blog early just in case.

The photo shows four animals on one row and two animals in the middle.  The animals are on temporary braces for the picture.  Most of the animals do not have four feet on the ground, and do not stand on their own.  The outer circle is twenty inches in diameter.

I had underestimated just how big the base of the carousel would have to be to accommodate the track system as well as the space needed for each animal.  The animals are an inch or more wide and five inches long.  They needed to be set back further back from the edge of the base than I had thought they would be.  

As I mentioned in the previous post, I was having trouble visualizing how the carousel would look while trying to draft it on graph paper.  I was not able to make sense of what I was seeing on the paper.  Now that I have drawn out some circles on a piece of poster board and placed the animals on it, I realize that my draft was not that far off.  What I had thought would be the base was not nearly large enough.

I had originally envisioned two rows of animals with three in each row.  However, to make the carousel large enough to do that and accommodate all the track, the base was going to be so large that I would not have a place to display the carousel anywhere except right in the middle of the living room rug.  So, time to fall back and punt.  

One of the possible ways I thought of was to reduce the size of the base and have four animals; two horses, the goat, and the tiger on the front row, and the second row containing the cat and rabbit that would chase each other around the inner track.  That could possibly work if I reduced the size of the inner pillar that will support the roof.  It seems that the central pillar would look disproportionate to the roof that way.  Also, the shorter area of track between the animals would lead to smaller distances between the bumps in the base that would make the animals move up and down.  I could probably make that work, but I expect that it would make the animals appear to be jumping up and down frantically because they were so close together.  I would prefer to have a longer space between the animals so that the rise and fall of the animals is a little more sedate.

Another plan that I have considered is to use just four animals and make the other animals into freestanding projects.  This would be quite workable.  There would be enough room between the animals for the bumps to have a gradual lift of the animals.  This is a strong contender for the new plan.  

The third possibility I came up with is to make two more horses.  Then I would have enough animals to make two carousels, one with horses and one with animals.  The horses were the easiest to make of all the animals because they did not have anything added other than their manes and tails.  They did not need the time investment of putting on all the fur.  I had not really considered making two carousels, but that might be the way to go.  (Not that I have any room for displaying two carousels.)  

Anyway, I am still considering my options.  At this moment I am strongly considering making two more horses in the future to have enough for a second carousel.  My main inspiration for starting this project was seeing a hand carved Denzel carousel that had many different animals on it.  So, if I start with the four animals that are already made, I will at least get the first carousel started.  I will at least work out all the logistics of how the animals will go up and down on the first carousel.  If I get everything worked out easily, then a second carousel's animals are already halfway done.  If the project turns into too much of a nightmare, then the horses can be freestanding projects.

I guess this is the lesson everyone should learn about making art.  The artist might start out with a vision but may have to change his or her plan as the creation unfolds.  Artistic ideas have to develop as the circumstances dictate.  Another art lesson is simplification; less is more.  If you try to put too much detail in too small a space, it creates stress and distractions that take away from the piece.  If the concept of the piece is too grand, it is best to let go of part of the vision and go with what works best visually.

There will not be another post this week even if we do not lose power in the storm.  Look for the next post the first Monday or Tuesday in February.

Planning the Carousel Mechanics - Carousel Part 25

 I have completed the first phase of the carousel project by getting all the animals to the point where they are ready for sanding and adding the decorations.  Before I go any further, I want to do some work on how the mechanics are going to work.  (It was cold and we have been having rain and snow, so I was not inclined to go outside to do some sanding.) I have the basic idea but need some insight into just how the animals will be mounted on the poles, how much distance between the animals, how much space I will need for the track they will be running on and how large the base of the carousel needed to be. So, my task this week was to start working on that part of the project.

Long story short, I wasted most of this week trying to draft it out on graph paper.  Let's just say that drafting is not my strong suit.  The difficulty was that I have oblong animal shapes that I was trying to represent going around a circular track.  I worked on the first sheet until I had so many erasures on it that I could not keep track of what I was supposed to be looking at and what was erased.  The same thing happened with the second sheet.  Clearly, I needed a different way to figure this out.  

I decided that it might be easier for me to comprehend it if I was working on a circle that was the anticipated size of the base of the carousel.  To that end, I decided that I would create a paper circle the anticipated the base to be and place the animals on it so I could have a real idea of what I needed.  To that end, I pulled out a tool that I have not used in a long time: a huge compass.

My husband made this compass for me years ago for another project.  I was painting Pennsylvania Dutch Hex Signs.  In case you are not familiar with them, these were large signs generally painted on barns around three hundred years ago.  Most of the signs were for protection and luck.  Other symbols were for health, love, and friendship.  Over time, the signs moved from barns to smaller round designs that were displayed over doorways or in the kitchen.  The signs were also painted on wooden chests that were given for blanket and clothing storage as wedding gifts.

Anyway, as you can see from the photo, there is a large difference in size between the standard size compass and the wooden compass.  The wooden pieces in the center has a nut and bolt.  You loosen the bolt to expand the compass and tighten it to hold it in place.  I think it actually does a better job of keeping its place and not slipping compared to the mechanics of a regular compass.  

This week I will get started on the circle and working on the placement of the animals and the pieces that will make the animals go up and down.

Check back next Monday for Tuesday for the latest update.

Paper Mâché Carousel Animals - Rabbit Completed - Part 24

This week I completed adding the second coat of cotton "fur" to the rabbit.  It may not sound like a lot, but every little set moves the project forward.  This part of the project is rather time consuming.  I think all total it took about four hours of work to completely cover the rabbit twice.  

Just to recap for new readers: The animals were created from cardstock and cardboard then covered with paper mâché.  Some of the animals are covered in fur or shaggy hair.  You can scroll back to see that process or look at it at the blog URL:  folkartbycaroljones.blogspot.com

The rabbit was covered with cotton adhered to the form by using a stiff artist oil paint brush and a fifth-fifty mix of all-purpose glue and water.  Cotton has a grain to it.  Apply the glue in the direction of the grain and the cotton will go on smoothly.  If you try brushing the glue on against the grain the cotton will bunch and lump.

Anyway, I have reached a major milestone.  The first phase of this project has been completed. Each animal was constructed starting from a flat sheet of cardstock and have been turned into a three-dimensional animal.  I have been working on making the animals since March 2025.  

Since this is only a hobby, I can have time to work on it for a couple of hours a week; and only at times when I have a full hour or more to work on it at a time.  Paper mâché has a fair amount of setup and cleanup time as well as direct work time.  I am thinking it has to have a minimum of a hundred hours on this project already.  That estimate is probably low.  I don't keep a log of actual time because there is little point in it.  If I were to charge minimum wage for the hours spent, most people would consider the piece out of their price range.  I just make things because I enjoy doing it.  The projects are for relaxation.  I need some downtime away from the usual chores and responsibilities that take up most of my time.

The next stage of the project requires a trip to craft and hardware stores to get the parts that will be used to make the horses go up and down as well as around the track.  The reason I need to have those parts now is because I will have to drill through the animals I have created to put the posts through them.  I did not want to leave a hole in the animals while making them because it would have made the construction more difficult.  The early stages of the project were not very stable, and I needed to make sure that the pole would stay upright.  If the pole slanted it would have prevented it from moving up and down or could damage the animal from the stress.  Once I get the rods, tubes, and other parts needed, then I can drill the holes for them all at once.  The areas will need to be sealed with more paper mâché before I go any further.  I need to do this now so that the hole for the rods will not be in the way of the decorations for the animals.  

Hopefully I will be able to get out to the stores sometime this week.  Check back next Monday or Tuesday for the next post.

Paper Mâché Carousel Animals - Tiger and Rabbit -Part 23

I have made some slow progress on this project this week.  The holidays have kept me busy, and I only had a small amount of time to work on the animals.  Now that the New Year has arrived, I am looking forward to having a few more hours in the studio (also known as my spare bedroom).  It is not a fancy set up, but it gives me a place that I can work without having to pick up and put away everything at the end of each session.

The tiger finally has his tail attached.  It has an unfortunate bulge in the middle, but it is not enough to want to make me want to rip it out and do it over again.  There is a color difference between the body and the tail, but that will not make any difference once it has layers of gesso and paint on it.  The difference is due to my having tried one cotton clay recipe for the body and another for the tail.  

It is hard to see in this photo, but the tail has some texture on it to try to make it look similar to the body. It is not as bulky as the body fur, but I did not want as much bulk in the tail.  Once it is painted, the tail texture will be more apparent.

I have completed the first coat of cotton fur on the rabbit.  It still needs another coat of the cotton fur.  I just have not had time to sit down and get to it.

I wanted the fur to be smoother on the rabbit than it was on the tiger.  I used a different clay for this animal.  It was much easier to apply than the clay that I used for the tiger.  Basically, the fur is just cotton that is brushed onto the paper mâché with a fifty-fifty mixture of water and Elmer's Multi-Purpose glue.  

I will say that this mixture was much easier to work with than the other clay recipe.  It will give a smoother coat.  The clay recipe I used on the tiger allowed for a heavier, more textured surface.  (Scroll back to previous posts on the tiger for that recipe.  If you cannot reach it from here the blog URL is folkartbycaroljones.blogspot.com).

By the end of the week, I should have reached a milestone on the project; all the animals will have reached the first stage of their creation.  I had hoped to finish it by the end of the year, so I am not so far off the goal, considering that every once in a while, life had decided to give me a good shake and leave me dealing with unexpected situations.  

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