Work on the unfinished Troll Screamers shown above as well as several NEW Troll Screamers will resume soon. I have several body parts ready to go for the new creations.

Saturday 24 July 2010

WHAT I DID THIS WEEKEND - 24 JULY

Having explained my recent absence in the previous post & having completed this project during my absence (minus the painting) i spent the latter part of today (Saturday) editing the final stages (photographs) for this project for you all. So without anymore rambling here is the final part of the custom novelty foot stool:
















As you can see i strengthened the sides & the top let joints of the actual foot stool with a few layers of news print.















You can see here too i changed the foot design as my wife B (Barbara) who i am making the foot stool for wanted the feet to be wearing slipper's not just bare feet. Read on to see just how i made the simple slipper effect below.















To begin with i simply took the foot form & left off the toes. If you look closely you can see the foot like 90% of anything i make is totally hollow. You may think this might be a problem with the weight of the foot stool & B's feet resting on these hollow feet, but the 'tube' i made the legs with sits on the floor not on top of this hollow foot form.















Next i cut out some slipper 'soles' from pizza card stock. I made the soles two layers of card stock thick but you can use a thicker card stock if you wish. I simply had none at hand during this build.















Next came the upper front portion of the slipper. To make this i cut out some serial box quality card stock in an archway type shape as shown. Look closely you will see i cut the final shape around 3cms larger than the actual foot. I did it like this as once i bend the card 'over' the front of the foot it will otherwise have been too small & would not have connected with the sole underneath all the way around the front of the slipper & foot. You may need to experiment to get the first one right but you can simply draw around the final shape once you get it right.















Next i cut all the slipper tops around a 3rd of the way into the top of the arch shape as shown here. Now the more 'slots' you cut out at this point the smoother the rounded off shape of the front of the slipper top will look. I drew only a few lines to show you so they would appear easier to see in the picture.















Starting at the 'back' of the slipper top, tack down the card with tape 'one' section at a time. Allow each section to overlap as you go shown here by the red arrows. They will overlap naturally because of the angles of the cuts & the new shape your forcing them into becoming so go slowly & gently let the card go as it wants. Try not to crease the card where it wraps around/over the top of the foot. You want this section to be a smooth bend without any creased edges in it just like a slipper has.















Now keep going all the way around from 'one side only'. Pull the card snuggly but not too tightly as you go.















ALL done, now do the same for the others too.















Now add a couple of layers of paper strips to bury all the card & tape.















To make the 'fury' edge or 'trim' on the back of the slipper top section. Simply roll a length of foil tightly as shown in the picture above. To get the right length simply use a piece of string or tape to gauge the size, measure that then cut & roll your foil to match it. Remember your going to need 4 of these.















Gently bend the foil as you go holding down one end. You may need to re-shape the foil as it makes the bend over the top of the slipper but this is no problem even with tightly rolled foil as used here.















Once you get the shape right fix it in place with some hot glue.















Now to make the fur edge i am going to use some refined wood chippings. You can of course use anything you like there are a wonder full selection of feathered or fur trims available. This method i am using will give me the same effect that my wife B likes &actually has on her current pair of slippers she wears around the house. The final choice remains yours for your own projects of course.















A coating of undiluted PVA glue first...















...Then a pinch of wood chippings pressed into place as i go around the foil.















A quick tap on the table to remove loose chippings & a quick wipe here & there- voila' a fury edged slipper just like my wife B is wearing right now lol.















Each foot (with slipper) was then attached to the tube legs with some masking tape. If you noticed i had not yet added the ankles to the feet yet? That is because i am going to place the ankles right over the point where the foot joins the tube legs. This will help to hide the point where the tube goes into the foot as well as make this point a little stronger too. Make sure too tat the tube rests on the bottom of the foot especially when using 'hollow' feet such as i have here.















To bulk out & shape the legs & knees for my design i used some foil. The foil does not need to be tightly compacted here. Just squeeze it enough to hold the crude leg & knee shape at this point. You can see i have also added the ankles too now.















A couple of layers of paper strips & voila' a finished leg.















Now to cover the foam for the cushion section. I chose a smooth finish cloth so it would not irritate B's feet or legs the blue colour matches our living room curtains & carpet which are shades of blue. I measured the foam rectangle i cut out earlier in the build then added as much again of the width of the foam to allow the material to wrap around the underside of the foam. It formed this crude cross shape you see above.















Just in case my measurements were off slightly i added these small pieces to each corner of my foam cushion. This way if the edges do not line up neatly enough the small pieces shown here will hide my mistakes a little. They also have the added benefit of making the corners a little thicker. So when the foam is removed & replaced for washing the corners will last a little longer from wear & tear as the foam rubs on the backs of the knees of the actual stool as time passes.















To fix the material to the foam i am using a spray on contact adhesive. This is the faster & easier way to add the material. It has the advantage of when washing the whole thing can be washed in one go. No fiddling around getting the material to back over the mishapped foam as time passes.















To use this type of adhesive/glue you simply spray 'both' surfaces to be glued, wait a few minutes for it to dry to a sticky (tacky) state then bring 'both surfaces together in a smooth slow controlled action. Once both surfaces meet your stuck. There is generally NO re-doing it. So get it right first time if you can. As with everything the tins come with full instructions.



















One finished cushion.















All i need now is to know what colour or pattern my wife wants he slippers painted then i can fully finish this project lol.

BACK AT LAST BUT WHERE DID I GO?

I guess some of you will have questions for me such as: So just where have I been? Why did I disappear with out trace & or not reply to emails or blog posts & the like? Well If I were to include all the both the boring & the gruesome details this email/post would become a very long & tedious thing that many of you would probably not finish reading. Yes even longer than it is now. So here is the short version, well as short as I can make it anyway:


I allow my two youngest children to use my PC (until I can buy them their own) the problem is I have certain rules of use that they think they can ignore as they think I don’t find out. My most basic rule is NO FREE GAMING SITES or FREE DOWNLOADING SITES. Now whilst there ARE many, many free gaming sites & downloading sites that ARE truly official & fully safe they ARE sadly out numbered by those that are not safe. My two youngest children constantly ignore my simple rules of use & well every so often (about 4 times a year now) I have to go & format my system & restore it all again.

A little over a month before I went off line this time they did it again – screwed up my system.

My solution for fixing it is simple: Swap out my master Hard Drive for a spare one then I transfer all data I want to keep (mine & theirs). Unfortunately ‘this time’ we the whole family were having issues that were giving all of us grief to varying levels. Before anyone knew what was going on these issues began to merge & grow. Add to that I was loosing more & more sleep through it all, my art was piling up around me: WIP projects, broken waiting repair projects, projects for friends, & a couple of private commissioned projects for good measure thrown in.

I ‘should have’ just left the PC sitting there whilst we got to sorting these life issues out but my two youngest would not get off my case about fixing the PC. I told them that I was not in the mood & was too tired to fix it. They would not leave me alone about it. So I went to fix it. Got myself in a right state doing so & broke my hard drive & my DVD R/RW drive too, in effect totally killed the PC. So well I blew my lid & said screw this. I decided I needed to both rest up & deal with family issues that were haunting us. I left the PC broken & my two youngest constantly moaning over it.

Finally the weekend gone (last weekend) we had finally managed to get on top (mostly) of the life issues plaguing the whole family & I asked my wife B (Barbara) to go buy me the replacement drives I required to fix my PC. That was last Monday gone. It was late in the day before she went to get the drives & much later when she returned so I promised to fix the PC the following day (Tuesday) gone. I knew both my wife & I had appointments with our chiropodist at one o’clock on the Tuesday, but I felt confident I could get the PC drives in & get the operating system restored before we had to leave the house saving some time later when we returned.

Tuesday gone that’s when life being life really leapt up on my back knocked me down & kicked me in the face good & hard – ALL DAY. I felt I could get my new drives in the PC & get the operating system restored at least then saving time later in the day… That’s when things really began to go wrong ALL DAY. It went wrong. At around ten that morning i installed the new drives & powered up my PC. Suddenly there was an ear splitting POP sound & a mild smell of burnt out components. At the same instant several loud shouts of “Who killed the lights” & “Who killed the wall sockets” along with “The TV just went off” With just a bit of “The new washing machine just stopped” thrown in for good measure. I shouted back “My fault I blew the power”. It took only a few seconds to realise my monitor had blown. Yes my monitor…

So with ‘most’ of the issues plaguing the family some £200 later a new hard drive a new DVD r/rw drive & a new monitor later I finally have my system up & running again. I still have projects to sort emails & blog posts to get through groups, forums & blogs to get caught up on. Fiends to reassure that I am still here & (still tired) but fine but I am back. I DO have the last parts of the ‘custom novelty foot stool’ project I made for my wife to post & WILL be doing that today as I managed through all the troubles we had to get that done at least.
I have a LOT of catching up to do so will get this posted/emailed & get right on it. Hopefully things & projects will resume over the next week (two) here so anything I promised to do, have still to do etc WILL resume as soon a humanly possible. I apologise for any/all delays & confusion I caused guys.

Saturday 3 July 2010

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY OMG SO BUSY - BUT!

Things around here have been more hectic than ever, trust me i am understating it. Try as i like i think i am going to have to totally give up on deadlines & scheduals.  Whenever i think i might be on top of things, well things get on top of each other then me. Things will improve around here soon though that i can promise & regular posting WILL resume i promise you lol. Many people state they never have enough time to do everything they planned, in my case i have too much of it but i use it up way too quickly anyway lol. I finally have some good news on one battle front though.

After many delays & set backs i 'finally' got my bank changed, being in a wheelchair for 'outside' meant i couldn't go to the bank to change over until someone took me which meant i couldn't sell anything online until this point in time. I have a weak left shoulder (amongst other physical & dibilitaing problems) which means i can only push myself short distances & need help in the wheelchair outside the house - That being my wife & registered carrer. Sadly my wifes own physical mobility is now under question. We know she is having mobility problems it's just a case of how much longer can she get around herself unaided & push me too. Sadly i could not get my banks changed as she had to come to to make it a joint account so she could access my account when i couldn't get out. NOW i can finally get to selling some work once i set up a PayPal/Ebay account etc lol. Saying that i have around 10+ things probably more just guessing off the top of my head for now  i want to start my selling carrear with. The things i make here on my blog & HOW TO video's are 'mostly' just to show techniques etc, what i personally classify as well 'rubbish stuff' really. Low grade work, not very high end 90% of those will never be sold. Some are never painted as they are only for HOW TOO's etc.

The 'main' items i am making for selling are more, well, supreme items. Made to be both useful, functuional & to a higher working finish. To begin with a few easy to produce (amongst other items) large ornimental dishes & bowls & vases. Some of which will have paper mache embossed dragons on & painted with a version of my dragon skin that 'cracks' with super fine cracks that if painted just right will make the vases look ancient even at close up inspection lol.

Of course some of the things i was making & have actually finished ready to sell need repairng thanks to my careless family but thats all part & parcel of being an artist with a (careless) family i guess lol. I might need help setting up prices for what i am going to sell so i was thinking of posting some pictures here. If anyone can possibly take a look & give me some pricing idea's i would apprieciate it? More on that when i have everything finished though.

Right back to it much to do, i still have to finish current HOW TO projects, videos, projects for friends/family as well as the projects for selling too lol.