So now we are starting to get somewhere. We have the stars already & NOW we have the start of our moon. Well it has the making of a face to it now at least. So lets add some more details to the moon & give it a full face shall we. Through the face creation i am about to show you remember that i am NOT adding more than one or two layers of paper strips at ANY time. I know this sounds odd as this will not even for my techniques make things very strong. I assure you by the time this moon is ready to be hung from a ceiling it WILL be super strong with a serious hard shell like finish... No i won't be using Dragon Skin on it either. Trust me lol.
If you want to read this stage before doing anything & then doing these steps in your own order thats perfectly fine. These half spheres are the eyes. They can be any size you like & are very easy to make if you want to keep your project as much paper mache as possible which is my intention to keep the final weight down to a minimum.
You can use ANY ball be it plastic, rubber etc for this step. To make the outter side of the eyes as smooth as possible however you will need a ball or ball shape that you can cut in half or seperate. For the scale of MY moon i am using those plastic balls found in children ball pools.
After cutting two in half i used the 'insides' to make the eyes & the eye lids.
PVA glue will not to stick to anything plastic or with a plastic like smooth finish. This is ideal for this stage as the eye pieces simply slip right out of the ball halves. Note too the eye pieces are larger than the eye lids.
After marking the position you want the eyes fix them in place. Now fit the eye lids. Position these so the outer corners over lap or meet as shown.
Try to place them so they are 'off' the eye a fraction. This will make them stand out without having to make them extra thick to have the same effect (being raised from the eye) it will also make painting the eyes much easier too if you do not have a steady painting hand. It will be a good idea to also paint the eye ball(s) details NOW as you will be able to see under the eye lids a little.
Now would be the time to add eye lashes if you would like too.
Making the nostrils could not be easier. I am guessing your moon may not be as large as mine is, but you can make the nostrils very easily for a large moon by using your fingers as molds. For my moon my thumb tips were the perfect size. I simply compressed some foil around them making two foil thimbles as shown above.
Once you have these fixed in place. Simply squeeze the 'tops' of the foil nostrils to give them the right shape. Being made of foil you can try several shapes easily until you get the look you want.
Perfect!.
The eyebrows are simply a foil sausage cut in two equal lengths with one end of each rolled into a slight point then bent a little. Like the nostrils try different shapes here too.
Perfect!.
Now it is a moon so lets add some crators. Make some 'loose rolled' doughnuts of odd sizes. Not too many we do not want to over do it. Three or four per facet of our moon should be about right. Squash the doughnuts as shown above. WHY squash them? When we strip over these the sharp edges will form perfect crator edges through the paper strips.
Now fix these in place. Remember not too many per facet & spread them out mixing up the odd sizes as you go.
Something similar as shown above will look just right later. This is one of those times when 'less IS more'.
Now this IS important. To make great moon crators look like 'great moon crators' EVEN on a cartoon project such as this. ONLY add one or two layers of short thin strips. Also when adding the strips let the strips go as they please. By that i mean let them stick down 'roughly' at any angles they want. Do not make them smooth & perfectly brushed down. The BEST way is to simply 'jab' at the strips with the brush crudely. If they crease or crumple slightly ALL THE BETTER that will add to the crators character a LOT.
A PERFECT crator. Do not worry if one side of the crator is thicker than the rest or angled differently. As you can see in the example shown above. The sides are uneven in thickness & angle inside & out. PERFECT!.
Okay then i am going to finish PM'ing this guy over with more strips. Then he will be ready for his arms which i will show you how to make in the next post. I chose not to add them for now to make this guy easier to handle. I will also try to squeeze in the final finish for the moon & the stars & hopefully bringing both together to make the final mobile too.
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