Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Remember Me? She is finally working on me! [WOYWW158]

Remember this little fella? Well I just had to get back to him...he's been calling and calling from there on the shelf where he was resting...and I was blocking him out. But now I am paying him the attention he needs. Here is where I am working today. On the floor in front of the window. Who knows why.
So the mold is very very dry and as light as a feather which is great. I found the old vaseline jar and chose an old brush as a dedicated vaseline applicator. I mixed up a batch of paste (flour and water) in a jar, greased the mold with vaseline (generous amount) and ripped up paper towelling into little flakes. Then I start applying the flakes of paper to the mold. I pick up a flake with the brush (this is NOT the dedicated vaseline brush) bristles and lay it in to the mold. Then I dip into the paste with the brush and then go in and press down very firmly so that the paper which is now quite wet will be firmly pasted to the mold and when it dries it will shrink and also have taken the shape of the mold quite well. I just keep applying the flakes overlapping them and then when the whole mold is covered I repeat what I just did and sometimes will use paper towelling of a different shade so I can see where I am going. Then I'll go in a do a third layer of stronger paper (newsprint) and basically just build up a deep layer of paper. That is the first step really, of using the mold.
I'm using a flour and water paste with this head but sometimes I add a drop of bleach because my thinking is, is that the bleach will deter bugs from eating the dried paper mache. Bugs LOVE dried paper mixed with a flour/water batter. Mice also LOVE it. Here is what has happened in the past, to one of my lovelies. Oh the horror of it all!
Here is Gay, all dressed in her finery and ready for the butterfly ball!
You can see her fine butterfly wings ready to dazzle the party goers when she makes her entrance to the ball.
But once the mice got finished with her, her nose was partly missing and there were all kinds of nibbles on her head.
And her butterfly wings were in ruin! A tragedy.
Thanks for dropping in, and we'll be seeing you soon, I hope! To see more work desks from artists all over the place hop on over to the fabulous Julia's blog Stamping Ground, to get linked up. Have fun everyone!! *smiles* Norma
POSTSCRIPT [later in the day] I finished filling in the mold with wet paper flakes and they dried and when I pulled them loose from the mold here is what I have now:
Dried paper shell ready to be pulled from the mold:
The pieces have been pulled from the mold and set aside. I've laid them out on top of what is left of the paper towel (from McDonalds) so you can see how little paper there is: Here's a close up of his face. Isn't he handsome? The two paper pieces coaxed together. See how the registration bumps come in to play? Be still my beating heart you are a handsome one!
I'll be continuing to work on this fella and will show you as I do!! Stay tuned...

10 comments:

  1. Wow - this is quite a process!

    Gay is gorgeous - I can see that she'll be a popular girl at the Ball!!

    Happy WOYWW
    Hugs,
    Kay #124

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  2. Norma, you are having FUN! So cool to see t.i.n.y. paper mache - such a handsome outcome, too! and her red wings - capture my heart, even after being chewed by Sir Mouse. xxoo, sus

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  3. these bad little mice! they are so hungry ;-)... I love to see the process of making your little paper heads. they are already a work of art - beautiful! :-) mano

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  4. Norma, so interesting what you tell in words and pictures.
    the doll is a nice one, very charming.

    x Stefanie

    (well me, I prefer a pot of green tea in the morning and a cup of black tea in the afternoon - depends on how tired I am... strong black tea is sometimes very important but my favorite is a softer one: keemun.)

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  5. Mice? ouch. But undaunted you pressed on. Those little rodents can do so much damage in such a short amount of time. They don't like dryer sheets either. Must be the smell. That paper molding looks interesting. Keep smiling and creating

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  6. Wonderful projects - thanks for sharing - Hazel WOYWW #82 x

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  7. Norma

    wow!
    I love how you have taken the time to show the process. It just makes it all the more intriguing. :)

    just to let you know there will be a quick response challenge this week hosted over at my blog if you are interested in participating.

    H x

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  8. Awesome! Except for the mice! Love tha tyou felt the need to remind us that the vaseline brush and the paste brush were different brushes....you've explained this before, huh!!

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  9. Very, very cool! But how do you make the molds?

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Your comments make my day! Thanks for dropping by and we'll see you soon, I hope, *smiles* Norma

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