I am sorry that I have no new carousel pictures this week. I have added a couple of forest pictures though. My husband and I decided to take an impromptu vacation. We had planned to go to the mountains over the Memorial Day weekend, but the weather report was calling for such bad weather that we decided to reschedule it. When the weather cleared and the forecast was nice, we decided to jump on it and just pick up and go. That did not leave me any time to work on the carousel this week. So the project is still where I left off last week.
So, still six layers of paper mâché to go on the central column. I will need to decorate it before it is installed on the platform. I guess that means another trip to my local craft store.
I have two visions for the decoration of the central column, and I have not yet settled on which one to use. One idea is to have some Johnny Cake faces and mirrors framed with small scroll work to reflect the animals. The other idea is to paint some type of forest scene on it.
Both ideas have some problems. Since the column is round, any mirrors would have to be fairly narrow or else they will not fit on the surface well. I did not have that problem on my last carousel because it had a square central column. Commercial scroll work pieces may be too large to fit flat on the column, but I could custom make the pieces to fit using paper mâché clay. It really comes down to what is available and how much work I want to put into the project. Sooner or later I need to get this thing put together.
My idea for the forest scene would be something like these pictures I took while up in the mountains. My main problem is the painting of it. Although my painting skills have improved somewhat, I am not sure I could paint it well enough. While I am beyond painting trees that look like lollypops, I am not sure I could do it well enough that it would not be a distraction from the animals.
I suppose a third option would be to just decoratively paint it with stars and scrolls. It might be the easiest thing to do. It might be less distracting than anything else.
I suppose that if I made a backing out of clay that was rounded enough to fit column, but had a flat surface on the front I could glue the mirror to that. Hmmm.... I may have to experiment with that. In any case, the worst that can happen is that I have to get another oatmeal box and start over on that part of the project.
Some people may wonder why I don't have more of a plan before I start. I just prefer to work free form and create what strikes me at the moment. Working spontaneously allows me to bring forth a better project that working from some set in stone plan. There are some parts of the project that must be exactly placed, such as the bumps that will make the animals go up and down, but in other places I can just play. Imagining and playing are the best part of the project for me.
The photo below shows the ram. I think he came out well.
Check back next Monday or Tuesday for the next bog post.
