Whilst i have many many projects on the go at any given time i don't always show all of them during the project(s) initial build or the end results even. This project is turning out (so far) as planned & well i am quite proud of it (or will be when done) so have decided to show it to you as a simple tutorial. The project i am about to show you how ever is a project i have wanted to do for quite some time. Until last Tuesdays art supply run (last week) i simply had not found the right sized/shaped mirrors i wanted for the project. They being 19 inch circular type. Yes i know i could more than likely found them online however seeing something physically in your hands is not the same as looking at a 3 inch image whilst reading the dimensions of said object, I don't (or rarely) work from sketches or scale drawings. I much prefer to design in my mind, holding a real object whilst doing so helps me see (mentally) & plan out a project much easier even faster on some occasions. Odd i know but some of us just prefer to do things this way.
Ouroboros the ancient Greek symbol often represents self-reflexivity, or the sense of something constantly re-creating itself, the eternal return. Or as i & i am sure many others see/say it as the symbol of eternity, or never ending re-birth. An actual drawing or sculpture of oroboros can be either a snake or a dragon. Whilst i personally like the concept of both these forms i do prefer the snake version. Why? That i am not sure to be honest. Anyway my (one of) 'pet' project(s) is a classic style 'snake' oroboros on a mirror if you had not guessed already lol.
I plan to make this project into two versions but they will initially be of matching designs. One will be a wall mountable version & the other a free standing version. The wall mountable version so that it can hang fully flat against the wall will only have a front (flat back), whilst the free standing version will be a full (two sided) complete snake. Both versions will (if i do it right) be fully detailed. By that i mean they will have fully detailed snake skins. As to colours this i have not decided as yet. I am torn between simply making them a basic metallic single colour, gold, silver or even aged bronze effect or paint them in true snake colours.
To make both versions i am making a single free standing version (minus the stand of course) that can be cast in plaster then mass copied later. The wall version would then simply be the front of the full free standing version with built in/on wall attachments that come already on the mirrors.
So to the actual project build then. Below is the start of this project giving you the step by step method i used. Most more regular readers/visitors to my blog should have mastered most if not all of the basic methods i will be using. I am going to add a 'new' element to this project for adding the finer scale details to the master copy. More on that as i go though. Here are the first stages for now:
To gauge the right size for snake that wraps around the 19 inch mirror i simply drew around one of the actual mirrors i will be using in each build on some pizza card stock. This was cut out then a length of rolled foil was then wrapped around the newly cut out card stock disc. The foil ring was then fixed in shape by adding about three layers of PM strips.
A simple snake head was then constructed from again pizza card stock by using the simple template below.
The red dotted lines show where the eye cavities were cut out 'after' construction. To make the bottom section of the head an identical copy was cut out of the upper head section (minus the eyes) then the edges were trimmed down so it fit 'inside & under' the already constructed upper head sections shown here.
In the pictures above you can see the eyes are actually plastic ruby's. these were added now so that when the mold is made they will also be formed. Of course i will have to cut out the then paper eyes & replace them with new ruby's but more on that later.
Once this first 'armature' stage was completely dried i then cut the inner card stock disc out using a craft knife. I then finished off shaping the snake with more PM strips as shown below.
Now the next stage is to add the detailed scales to the snake as well as finish creating the head shape too. That is for another post though which will be posted in the next few days.
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