I'VE BEEN FOOLING AROUND WITH MY BLOG A LITTLE BIT

Well as the regular visitors will instantly be aware of i have been makig a few 'minor' alterations to my blog. It's something i was wanting to do once i reached 100 posts but never had the time. Until now that is.The changes are only very subtle ones (panick averted i hope lol), nothing radical. I have reduced the amount of posts displaid for one thing. From now on any posts that reach 14 days old from the date of posting will be archived. Anyone wanting to read older posts can easily find them in the archive links on the right hand side of this page as of today. Since many of my posts tend to stretch out a little (ahem!, i do tend to ramble on a bit) i guessed once i reached 100 posts then this would be a more manageable for the readers out there.

Many of my posts are accompanied by HOW TO videos on YouTube again something which many of my regular visitors will know, but these last couple of days have been busy (utter & total chaos in fact) as i have been trying to pack in as many last minute posts as i can (I am supposed  to be ofline for the Christmas holidays a 20+ year tradition since my early Amstrad CPC days) unfortunately i haven't had a chance to make sure the HOW TO links to my YouTube videos are up to date. I WILL try to fix this over the next few days if i can. If i don't then you can find out whats new & whats not by simply going to YouTube & searching for "Darkjonty2" thats ME.

I recieved my first award from a visitor in Poland today. So with this & any other awards i may recieve (NOT a hint honestly it's not) i have decided as a thankyou 'back' to any future sender i would activate a direct link on the award image back to the senders top listed blog. This first award was given by: By K who has more than one active blog, so i simply chose one at random for the link back. If award senders wish me to link back to a 'particular' blog of theirs in future please let me know which one you would 'prefer' me to do so with or as in this case i will simply choose one at random.

So this most likely is my last real post for this year. I will try to drop what i can off in here over the next few weeks of the holidays. Though how many & how often i make of any more posts this year i can not say at this time. I WILL how ever be checking in regularly for comments etc & i WILL respond to any comments made on a regular basis.

Whats to come after the holidays then?

Well i do not want to give too much away, but lots more great stuff i promise you. Soon after the turn of the year i am going to be building a NEW PC for myself. I built this one several years ago. The pounding it has taken from extended use by family members has left it some what lacking in get up & go lol. At the same time i WILL be buying some NEW digital recording hardware & lighting to improve my video quality & static image production for both my YouTube HOW TOO's as well as the pictures i use in here.

Once i have that sorted i will be working on a DVD book giving away ALL my secrets in paper mache art. These WILL include several 'MECH' projects i have/am working on as well as several i have been planning for some time.

So i am off outta here for now. Iwill speak to you all again very soon. Have a good holiday (those who celebrate it).


Jonty.

CUSTOM MASK MAKING PART 3

Sadly i am NOT going to get to showing you how to plaster mold copy these masks before i take my Christmas holiday break properly. As it is i am breaking my own 20 year rule by getting these last few posts out. I wanted to show you a little more on the teeth building part of these masks before i shut down fully until the turn of the year though. I WILL try to get the short HOW TO video that accompanies this post done tomorrow 06/12/09. The HOW TO will show you in much better detail of course how to do this, but for now here is a static run down of how to make the teeth for these masks.

On this mask i have sunk the mouth section slightly as i want to experiment with the placement of the smaller teeth a little. I may have sunken it too far though. This is of course no problem as i can easily remedy this later. If i have to do so i will try to explain what i did. So lets start adding some teeth then.

Remember i am using what i like to call 'poor artists polymer clay' - 'plasticine'. You will not be able to heat this up to make it hard, but you can paint it in un-dilluted PVA glue to make the surface go hard which WILL allow copying the mask in plaster.

As with any clays polymer or otherwise it's always a good idea to prepare the pieces you are going to be using first. In this case the teeth. This way you can guage size & amounts of required items better as you work. Well this method works for me anyway i am not a great multi-tasker lol.

These pre-pressed sheets of plasticine come in handy 'strip' sheets too. When making ghoulish teeth the task is much easier when you want split teeth. I simply peel off 2 strips then trim to the right length as i want them.

Fangs of course are easy enough to roll out.

Because we can not bake the plasticine hard, we can not simply hot glue them into place either. So a little pure PVA works wonders in getting the plasticine to fix to the paper which it hates to do by nature.

When it comes to adding the pre-shaped parts that you do not want to alter in any way you MUST be gentle when fixing these in place. Of course you may want to adjust the positions too so only press these into place when you are sure you have them where you want them to go.

When adding 'fangs' i find it is best to fix the fangs in place FIRST. This way you can guage the position of the smaller teeth much easier. Since most fangs are going to be longer & wider than any smaller teeth you may be planning to add, they WILL 'off-set' the position of the smaller teeth a fraction with every tooth. Adding the fangs first gives you 'eyes on' insight as to how the smaller teeth will be situated.

With the smaller teeth work from the center of the mouth out. This way you can line the center of the first two teeth perfectly with the face. It makes little to no difference which direction you take after that point for both top & bottom teeth.

Remember nature does not have things worked out entirely right just yet, well not for the constantly changing human race at least. Especially when it comes to teeth. For some reason most humans & i suppose it more than likely follows for most demons & other monsters too then that some have crooked, imperfectly lined teeth. So i this case for a demon mask try NOT to make the teeth perfectly lined up etc. Off-set the teeth slightly & having some lean out more WILL actually give YOUR demon mask some great characteristics i assure you.

Do not forget to add the small bumpy ridges above the teeth in the face too. These are actually cavities in a real skull where the teeth roots would fit. Like the teeth (& fangs) give these some variations as you sculpt them on the mask. It is little touches like this that make the difference in any sculpture be it a serious piece or a fun piece alike.

PVA glue, especially undilutted PVA glue dries very quickly in a warm room. So check as you work the glue you brushed on is still wet or at least sticky before you add more features. There is nothing like creating the perfect section on a sculpture such as with this method. Only to leave it over night then carry on the next day to find someone moved it & something fell off that you simply could not remake as good.

I had a feeling i had sunk the inside of the mouth back too far.

 To fix it i simply cut out the back of the mouth (inside the rear of the mask) then re-glued a new flat surface right up against the back of the newly added teeth. Hmm, this is no good lets have some close up's...

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 




A final coating of PVA glue & thats the teeth for this mask all finished up.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This mask can now join the others in storage until after the turn of the year at which point i will get to copying them in plaster. To then copy back out some paper mache wearable copies.

I appologise for the seemingly random 'gaps' in this & other previous posts i have made. I have NO idea what is causing these & no amount of editing & re-posting corrects the problems. I have noticed other bloggers are suffering the same thing occaisionally. I still felt i had to appologise for it though.

3D MOON & STARS MOBILE PART 2 BUILDING THE MOON

Time to get back to my stars & moon mobile project i think.

So we already have our stars from the earlier stage of this project all but finished, theres one last detail i want to add to them but i am saving that for the end stage. Now it's time to work on the 3D moon from which they are to hang

In my opinion when making the moon for a mobile such as this the moon needs to be bigger than the biggest star made, but in YOUR mobile it's your say. Start with a disk of cardboard. here i am using simple large packaging corrigated card stock.

Use the cardboard disk you cut out to make a paper disk the same size. If you do not have a large enough sheet of paper then simply glue together several sheets of A4 as i did here.

Now fold the 'paper' disk in half to find the central line of your card stock disk. Then use it as a guide to draw a line down the center of your card stock disk.

When you have done that remove the 'paper' disk & then 'score' down the newly drawn line on the card stock disk. Since this is corrigated card stock you need to at least break the surface of the side you are scoring down.

Now fold the card stock disk in half & crease the fold. Both sides if you wish but only one side IS sufficient for this stage.

Now either 'freehand' or using a guide draw out a 'semi-circle' line. If you can try to make one end wider than the other to make a slightly lop/odd ended moon shape. It is NOT important, but it will give the quarter moon shape we are about to make have a little more character i feel.

Once you have your moon shape cut out, tape along the 'inner' side. Where i have indicated here with the green arrow heads.

You do not need to go crazy taping here, just enough to hold it perfectly in place will do. I 'personally' call this 'TACKING' with tape.

Now we need to open up & support the other side somehow. YOU can use ANY method that suits YOUR design or skills to do this.

As I personally use as light weight & or as hollow a method(s) as i can as a kind of design signiture to my work. I am going to use some small toiletry thin card stock inner rolls as my supports. Holding one side i simply 'crushed' the top & the bottom at the same time to create a caved in side.

It's a little rough 'n' ready in appearnce but this is a moon so the final design need not be perfect!. In fact a little roughness around the edges WILL give it some character all round.

For MY moon only 2 supports were required. Again a little 'tape tacking' WILL hold these in place sufficiantly until we get the back in place. By which time it WILL be self-supporting anyway.

Now measure the 'widest' point on the now opened back side.

Then measure & cut a long enough piece of similar card stock to run down the back side of your moon. If you do not have a long enough piece for this then simply improvise by using smaller pieces to fill on the end(s). Again do not worry if they are thicker or thinner card stock. This will also add some character to the final design. Trust me here.

Now 'crease' the cardstock along it's whole length to give it a slightly curved look as depicted above. This WILL make fitting a whole lot easier.

You only need enough of a curve that fits the design of YOUR moon.

Using your moon as a guide trim off the fins that are created at the end(s). Then tack tape the whole thing together.

Now it is time to get some strips on. Those of you who want to work with pulps CAN do so NOW too. If you are using corrigated card stock then the project will have no trouble handling the extra wet weight. Just use what ever pulping methods you know & trust. If the corrigated card stock you may be using is 'thin' then a couple of layers of news print strips will give it some extra support before adding your pulp layer(s) if in doubt of the strength of your newly created moon armature.

Personally I prefer paper strips, faster drying & easier to apply.

So to the result: 3 layers of 80gsm A4 white printer paper & 3 layers of standard news print later, one moon armature. Rock solid & as light as any one could wish for even at this large scale. Here the camera angle & way i am holding the moon are making this look smaller than it really is. Now it is time to build a face on the moon. I am calling my moon 'Harvey moon' by the way.

This is the bottom lip for my moon. I have NO idea WHY but for some reason in the HOW TO video i show this cardstock section 'upside down' as you can see. I did not realise this until i came to edit out the images for my blog here. Any way not important i just thought i would mention it in case it confused people when they see the HOW TO then start to ask WHY did i turn it around when fitting it lol. Ahem!, moving on...

The bottom lip fitted side view.

Now front view. There is NO need to cut away the front edge of the moon 'inside' the mouth as this WILL be TOTALLY burried shortly so it will not be seen when we are finished.

The top lip.

Fitted & side view.

The front view. I think i will bring the top lip forward more than this so the lips meet in a 'pursed' smile more.

The nose...

Folded for fitting.

Fitted. Now you can see the face starting to emerge.

Once again the side view.

Now to start bulking out & shaping the face. To do this i am going to use foil. This long roll of semi-compacted foil is for the top edge of the bottom lip.

When using foil like this do not fully compact it when shaping it this way you will have some room for extra shaping if the foil is a little 'loose'.

Well thats enough for now but you can NOW find the YouTube video link in my extensive listing at the bottom of this blog. When i come back to this project we we continue with the face. Adding the eye's, eye brows & a few other facial details using foil & card stock. If the post at that time is not too long i will try to also show the arm construction too which is how i will be adding the stars. More on that the next time though.