Paper Mâché Carousel - More on Creating the Column - Part 37

This week I have been working more on creating the central column.  I wanted to have some trim on the top and base of the column to give it some more gluing area and to cover the join between the base and ceiling platforms.  I went through a couple of changes on how I wanted to make it, but I think this change will make it work better.  At first, I envisioned the trim pieces as a separate piece, but I think it will work better as something made as an integral part of the column.  It will give me more gluing area when I attach it to the base.

I will show another picture of the column in a minute in a different photo.  But, for now, I will start with making the trim pieces.  I started by tracing around the column on a piece of cardboard.  That would be the inner circle.  

It is hard to see in the picture, but I made some registration marks on the inner circle and corresponding marks on the column.  These will make it easier to make it fit on the column.  Slight variations in the thickness of the paper mâché layers, and slight cutting errors make it harder to match up the column and trim without the registration marks.

I measured the diameter of the inner circle and marked the center.  Then I used a compass to draw the outer circle.  The registration marks were then transferred to the inside of the outer circle.  Then I cut out the inner circle and outer circle with a sharp craft knife.  

I made four of these circles.  The cardboard was not thick enough in a single layer, of I used two circles taped together to form a single layer to make it as thick as I wanted.  The registration marks were remarked on each layer of the tape.

In the upper portion of this photo, the base of the column is shown with the first set of rings taped to it.  

The column and rings matched up easily when using the registration marks.  The column of the cylinder was made using a repurposed oatmeal container.  Scroll back to previous posts to see that being covered in paper mâché.  If you cannot scroll back, you can go to this blog's URL which is folkartbycaroljones.blogspot.com  

So here is the column with both sets of the trim attached.  Each end is double taped to make prevent water infiltration into the cardboard from the paper mâché paste.  I always double tape because I have had some unfortunate experiences in previous projects when the paste was too moist and the carboard soaked it up.  

The angle used when taking the photo makes it look as if the top trim is larger than the base.  That is just a property of the photo.  The trim pieces are actually the same size top and bottom.

There are a couple of places that are not exactly in the round due to small cutting errors.  They can be built up later with layers of paper mâché strips.  The areas are so small that it was not worth the effort of cutting out two more circles.  When the carousel is finished, it won't even be noticeable.

I just added a picture of the carousel that I took when I was testing the rotating mechanism.  It gives you an idea of what I am shooting for with the central column.  

This coming week I will be working on the paper mâché layers that will make the trim a permanent part of the column.  Maybe I will have a chance to at least get the primer coat on it.

Anyway, that is my stopping point for this week.  I am getting very excited.  Now that I have all the major pieces ready, I can start decorating and painting the animals.  I want to add saddles, bridles, flowers, and ribbons to the animals using paper mâché clay.  I will probably be making the clay myself, so stay tuned for more information on that part of the project.  

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

Paper Mâché Carousel - Priming Continues

 There is not a lot to report this week.  I have been priming the plywood discs that make up the base, floor, and ceiling of the carousel.  Most of the discs are primed, with the exception of the top of the ceiling layer.  I have not yet determined how the top of the carousel will be decorated so I am holding off on that piece.

The only other disc that looks anything other than painted solid white is the layer that the animals will be on.  The center of this disc has a circular layer that is not painted like the rest.  I forgot that I needed to keep that layer clear in the center for now.  I painted it on the first coat and had to go back and sand that area to get some of the primer off.  I will need to sand a little more but decided that I would do that later.

The reason for keeping the center clear is that the central column will be glued in there.  This portion of the central column is mainly decorative.  The actual support for the roof will be inside the column.  I will blog more about that in another paragraph.  

At this point the center circle is larger than the column.  I have also accounted for the trim that will be glued around the column.  The area is still larger than what I expect the column and trim to occupy, but I wanted to leave plenty of room for gluing.  I will have to go back in and paint in the rest of the primer once the column is in place.

This is the central column as it is right now.  It is covered by three layers of paper mâché on the inside, and five layers on the outside.  It is very strong.  It could hold up the ceiling on its own, but I need a wooden piece on the inside that can be screwed into the base and ceiling to keep them rotating as one unit.  There will be a separate blog post on that when I get that far.  

For now, my plan is to build the trim onto the base of the column.  It will be made of cardboard and paper mâché.  It will be permanently attached on the base.  It needs to be attached with glue and paper mâché before it is primed and painted.

The top will also have trim, but at this time my plan is to attach the trim to the ceiling and just have the column fit into it rather than trying to glue it to the column.  That will help when it comes time to put it together and if I should ever need to take it apart again.  

Why would I want to take it apart again?  Who knows.  Maybe the rotating platform fails and needs to be replaced.  Or maybe I need to ship it somewhere and it will travel more safely if it is packed as flatly as possible and reassembled elsewhere.  If I had to transport it, my main concern would be for the dowels that the animals will be mounted on.  They are only a quarter inch (6.35 mm) thick.  I am concerned that a mishandled package could give it such a jolt that it could crack the dowels.  Maybe I am worrying over nothing, but I would hate to go to all this much work and have something break it.  The dowels could be replaced but it would be a lot of work to do that.

Anyway, that is where I left off on working on the project this week.  Look for the next blog post on next Monday or Tuesday.

Paper Mâché Carousel - Central Column and First Primer Coat - Part 35

The old saying is that something taking a long time is like watching paint dry.  Basically, I have been doing just that this week; watching paint dry and watching paper mâché dry.

I have been adding layers of paper mâché to the central column.  From the standpoint of a picture, it does not look as if much has changed from last week to this week.  However, if you were to see it in person it would look much thicker this week.  I now have two layers of paper mâché on the inside and three layers on the outside.  

I still need to add at least one more layer to the inside, and two more layers to the outside.  Although this piece will not be bearing the total weight of the roof, I still want it to be plenty strong.  I do not want the weight of the roof to deform the cylinder.

Each layer has taken about forty-five minutes to an hour to apply.  It does not look as if it should take that long for each layer, but part of it has to do with the difficulty factor.  This is a tall cylinder and trying to work on it was hampered by my being so short that I had to either stand up to see into it or hold it on a slant, which then wanted to roll.  

The time for each layer also included the prep time for tearing the paper to the correct size and prepping the flour paste.  If the paper is the correct size, it will be easier to smooth it onto the project without a lot of wrinkles.  Fewer wrinkles mean less sanding and fewer defects in the finished piece.

I find that making the flour paste mixture works best if given a few minutes to hydrate.  I stir it constantly during that time to get rid of any flour lumps.  That way I have a very few lumps in it and that cuts down on sanding time later in the project.  Sanding is my least favorite part of the process.

While waiting for the paper mâché to dry, I started to add the first coat of primer to the underside of one of the plywood bases. Clearly it needs a second coat.  

I am using Gesso as a primer.  All of the pieces will be painted with acrylic paints, so I decided to use a primer that I knew was compatible with the paints.  

So that is all the progress for this week.  It does not look like a lot of work, but really it was about four hours across multiple days.  At times like these, I just remind myself not to get frustrated with how slow the process can be sometimes.  When that happens, I just have to tell myself to focus on the next step.  As long as I just make the next step, I will be closer to finishing this project.  

Check back next Monday or Tuesday for the next update.

Next Step on the Carousel - Main Supports - Lining for Electrical Opening - Part 34

 I am reposting the picture of the carousel from last week because some readers may have missed it because the blog post was late.  Somehow, I managed to not hit the publish button.  I did not notice it until I signed on the blog on Thursday.  There are also more pictures after that to show what I have been working on this week.

I had just finished running my first test of the carousel with all the animals on it.  The test was to make sure the animals would all go up and down as planned and stay on the track.  It passed.  Nothing is screwed down or glued on yet, so things look a little out of kilter after the test.  Scroll back for the previous post for more details or folkartbycaroljones.blogspot.com  

Now, on with the next steps that I worked on this week.

I began the paper mâché work on the oatmeal box that is the center support.  I removed the top and bottom from the oatmeal box and covered it with two layers of masking tape.

Yesterday I added the first layer of paper mâché to it.  Even using longer strips of newspaper, it took better than an hour to get it covered inside and out.  I will be putting on more layers, but it may take me a couple of weeks to get this part completed.

Once the cylinder has all of its layers of paper mâché, it will be painted and decorated.  I will be blogging more about that later.

Although the cylinder is strong enough to hold up the top platform on its own, this is not actually the main support for the carousel.  It is only decorative.  The central support column will be something else, but I will blog more on that later when I install it.

This is the underside of the bottom platform of the carousel.  I had my husband drill a hole through the platform so I could run the electrical cord for the rotating platform that turn the other two platforms. The plywood is pretty rough, and I was concerned that in time it might damage the insulation on the wiring.  I used some wool felt and lined the hole top and bottom.

I lined the top of the platform in the same way, then added an extra round piece of felt on top of that.  When I run the cord through it, I will probably cover that section of the cord with some electrical tape.

The platform in the center is where the rotating platform will sit.  Regular readers may remember from a previous post that my rotating platform was about a half an inch (1.27 cm) shorter than the humps that make the animals go up and down.  Adding the platform was my fix for that problem.

This is about all that happened this week.  Check back on Monday or Tuesday for the next post.