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.