BOO BOO STOPS ALL WORK

Typical of my luck. About three weeks ago whilst going to bed I stumbled on the landing, falling i threw out my good arm as you do. Then nearly fainted when my full weight behind my arm smashed into a door frame. A nasty bruise the next morning told me what i already knew - i had bruised the bone about three inches above my right wrist. Three weeks later the arm is still in a lot of pain but i can move it & my hand if some what stiffly  slowly.

So ignoring that i have carried on PMing as i can, here & there. That was until last night when i got me a boo boo i can not ignore. I had just moved a hot pan from off the heated ring it was on to a cooler section when i spotted a knife had fallen onto the cooker behind the pan. So i reached to pick up the knife, yes you guessed it i did not move the pan first!. Being in constant pain down my entire left hand side of my body 24/7 has me for a better term of phrase -  not so jumpy at new pain. So normally i'd have reacted quicker as my hand pushed up against the hot pans side, but no. I was more distracted trying to get a grip on the knife in the tight gap. Then after about two or three seconds the pain registered in the side of my hand. It is odd now i think  about it being in constant pain has left me calm when it comes it personal injury somehow. I calmly turned & ran the cold tap over my hand then calmly went & found some Vaseline to spread on the burn.

By the time i had layered on some vaseline the pain was lost to me virtually apart from a distant sting. This morning however the muscle under the burn on the side of my hand is extremely stiff & the thumb somewhat numb & distant. So not only being right handed, diabetic on insulin which means i have to be cautious of cuts & the like for infections. I have decided to put aside the PMing until my hand heals. This of course means everything is on hold until at least sometime next week. Sorry everyone. I will of course once i heal get right back on with things & get back on to some kind of order as quickly as i can.

My boo boo below:

A WET WET WEEKEND AHEAD - GOD HELP ME - UPDATE 2

Well as always (you'd think i'd have learnt by now) my plans got scuppered again. I would normally simply radiator dry anything i need dried in a hurry especially any pulp batches i use now & then mercifully a rare thing. Being well into the last stages of autumn now the weather here in the UK is growing much colder, more this year than normal it seems too. A great time if not the best for radiator drying for me. Sadly a little while back my wife B (Barbara) started going through the change of life as we call it here. Now 48 she started at mid 47 doing so.

Now as most women who have gone through this stage in life will know you can suffer many stages of irritating & awkward side effects. As it would happen B's main side effect is constantly being hot. You guessed it we rarely have the radiators on no matter how cold it gets here. Now do not get me wrong my darling wife has every bit of sympathy & understanding from all of us, but it takes at least two of us complaining that we are freezing cold &can almost see the cold breath leaving our mouths as we breath on a night time before she moans & gives in allowing us to put the central heating on. As a result i have from yesterday had to resort to oven drying my two pulp batches. To make things worse the larger of our two part oven cooker has died leaving us with the smaller oven/grill section to work with. So not only is the drying process a slow going thing i can only dry a small tray full at a time.

I have only just today (about ten minutes ago) finished stage two of the glossy magazine pulp which i started on yesterday & am around half way through the oven drying of the inner tube pulp now. I have another two tray fulls to oven dry then i can get to the final (second stage) on it today with some small amount of luck. So i am hoping to get to mixing up some test batches of pulp/plaster mix tomorrow. I am not however making any promises here or to myself not the way things tend to end up going for me lol.

More soon. 

ME & MACHE THE WHOLE STORY

Before i begin this post i must just state my answer was a little too big i felt for the comment section so have made my (full) answer into a post here:

GhoulishCop said...

Hey Jonty,

Is this just a desire to recycle and be frugal or is there some other reason, such as your preference for making these mashes. I've only just recently gotten into this paper mache mash business, but I've found Stolloween's method of using paper pulp for blown insulation a time-saver.

A bale of it goes for $11 U.S. at a big box DIY store and lasts just about forever. Mixing it with glue and his paper mache paste recipe also gives a clay that can be molded i just like modeling clay (well, close enough). I've begun using it to make individual finger joints and like the look I'm getting.

I know there are a million recipes out there for pulp, mache, and paste. Just curious why you choose the route of making your own.

Cheers,
Rich

I primerily work with strips of paper or sections of card stock. Folding. cutting & forming 3D forms from flat paper or card which i then strip over. Of course there are times when the need to use a small batch of pulp is required & i won't deny i DO use the 'odd small batch' here & there but it is rare for me. However being able to sculpt or carve pulp allows for finer detailing strips can not always provide so readily.

I always have & continue to love to experiment. Combine that with the readily available materials to experiment with around my own home alone & you get a simple answer, why simply purchase online etc ready made materials that do not always do what you either expect or want. Why pay when you can experiment  whilst recycling doing your bit for the planet, whilst the limitations of your current funds may or may not dictate what you can or can't do. Money is not the only solution especially in toady's 'throw away society'. For me art is not only something everyone can appreciate but something everyone can do, money be dammed. I can use the resources i have at hand to show those who otherwise can not afford to buy online out of convenience. Not all of us can do that. So i choose to combine recycling with creation (art) in a way that i can share (inspire) others who normally would have thought they could not do or especially afford to do.

I recently purchased 2lbs of Claycrete in two separate bags as i require the finest grade of pulp i can get but can't produce (or so i thought) at home. When i received them on inspection it turns out my very own but simple home made pulp was just as refined as the Claycrete was if not bleached as it was. Claycrete reports a drying time of around thirty minutes at which point it is solid & can be sculpted (carved) etc. No simple paper & Cotton lint pulp has those stand alone properties. The gritty fine white grain within the Claycrete (& loose in the bottom of each bag) tells me clearly there is some fine grade sculpting plaster in there too. Now bearing in mind my want to inspire but more so show those  who can not afford a 1lb bag of ready made plaster & pulp mix such as claycrete or anything similar at some £10+ GBP or 14  Euros, 18 USD etc to create something that may turn out badly & be a costly mistake to them. Why purchase online when you can easily make from resources at home something equally as good (especially for experimenting) in minimal time & piratically zero cost? 

Experimenting at home rather than simply purchasing what is readily available means you can create 'exactly' what you require for a particular need/creation. In most cases i use small amounts of pulp as a fast bulking form that i can sculpt/carve where my paper/card folding skills won't ordinarily allow. I have always loved working in plaster & want to explore that field more these days. I however don't want to totally abandon my paper mache either rather i want to combine the two. Even though i have the cash resources to keep purchasing ready made materials as i require them even pulps online. It will eventually become a very expensive set of experiments (even for me) that for the most part will result in failure time & time again as it may take me many attempts to find a pulp/plaster combo that suits 'my' particular needs. Home experimentation combined with my existing years of for knowledge of pulps & plasters give me an advantage i can share with others who may not otherwise have the cash resources to try. Not to mention i will hit on a working answer a lot faster by coming up with my own combinations of pulp & plaster that would eneventually become ridiculessly expensive even though i can easily afford to do so.  Basically i am looking at the bigger picture involving getting others involved in this simple art even if they are working with limited cash resources.

AMENDMENT TO ARCHIVED POST - A LOCAL CRAFTY FIND

Just thought i'd better update an old post from my archives. In the post i ramble on about a new (at the time) local craft shop (to my locality anyway) in which i mentioned the local craft shop (store) was bringing out it's own online presence. It appears since that time the craft shop created their website under another ISP, so the given website address in the original post is a dead link. Not my fault but sorry anyway.

Here is the new & working link: http://www.local-loyalty.com/crazy-crafters/

You can jump to the original post by clicking on the 'yellow healine' above.

A WET WET WEEKEND AHEAD - GOD HELP ME - UPDATE

Oh no i didn't, did i?

So help me i did. I created myself my own little one man pulp war here at Darkside HQ. Oh well since it is just between me & me the casualties should be low lol.

The plan was to make the first stage magazine pulp for my pulp/plaster mix experiments yesterday. Then today do the second stage. For those who have never made pulp there are a number of methods artists use. I use a simple two part method.

STAGE 1: Run a required amount of paper (varies)  through a blender with cold water. Spread it out to dry overnight or as long as required this depends on batch size normally just the one magazine is enough for my meager uses. Then when fully dried i break it all down into manageable nuggets.

STAGE 2: Take the dried nuggets then run through the blender again 'dry' until they become a fluffy lint like form. Voila' instant pulp. Just add chosen glue as required.

Now i was not going to mention this next bit (& won't fully yet!) as well as my pulp/plaster mix experiment i am running another pulp based experiment too, but full details on 'what' that is another time. For now i will tell you i am experimenting with toilet roll inners for a pulp too. I hadn't planned to initially as i am collecting the inners to use in a creation another time.  Along the way someone dumped a load of heavy items on a half black bin liner of tubes crushing them. Since they were then useless to me crushed rather than waste them i decided to use them in another pulp experiment. Anyway seeing as the tube inners are made of thicker paper i decided to tear these up then let them stand in a medium bucket of water for a couple of days, three in all, before pulping them.

Now back to this one man pulp war of mine.

It took me a little over thirty minutes to pulp  a single computer magazine (disabled remember in which i have llimited use of left arm & lower back?) to a satisfactory first stage pulp (see stages above 1 & 2) which i set to one side to drain then dry on a wooden board above a radiator.

After a brief break (okay an hour) i got to doing the toilet roll inner tube pulp too. Now my current blender has a two litre capacity. In which i was able to render down around twenty to twenty five glossy magazine pages per load in around two minutes a load. In the end i only pulped a single magazine which believe it or not gives you one sizable batch. Enough for my needs right now anyway.

Now the inner tube pulp was a different story all together which is why i am in part mentioning it here. Whilst i could only load around two handfuls (around two pounds wet - straight from the bucket) i found i had to use around one & a half litres of water each load so the blender could cope. as apposed to a couple of cup fulls of water for each load of magazine pages. However, to my amazement each two pound load or so only took me under a minute each (around thirty seconds or so) to render down to an incredibly fine mushy pulp that was almost a thick soup like in texture. Not only was the inner tube pulp at least two times finer than my glossy magazine pulp at stage one. I also pulped TWICE the amount in under ten minutes too - Awesome!. See the two pulps below:

The PC glossy magazine pulp is the grey pulp on the left. The toilet roll inner tube pulp is on the right.

This is where the pulp war comes into play lol. I am torn between which pulp to use in my pulp/plaster mix experiment now. I think i will wait until i have put 'both' pulps through stage two (the final stage) before i commit myself & these pulps to the test.

The war is on who will claim victory me or the enemy me?

More soon.

A WET WET WEEKEND AHEAD - GOD HELP ME

Is it Friday already?

Were did the week go?

So the week got away from me again (nothing new there then lol) i have been busy all week editing video but i will after this weeks delay be starting a batch of new paper pulp for my plaster pulp mix experiments which i will definitely be starting this coming Monday. My plans (that i WILL be sticking to for sure this time) are to begin to prep the first stage of the pulp (soak & shred) a large batch of glossy magazine pulp in stages from Saturday morning on & off through the remainder of the day. Since i don't pre-soak my paper pulps when i do make them that saves a lot of time. I say through the remainder of the day as standing is something i can only do for short periods literally only a few minutes at a time every hour or so. Most of the pulp preparation is going to be achieved from a perched sitting position, perched precariously on a three legged stool.

The last time i made any home made pulp i remember when gauging the water to paper ratio in the blender was to say the least messy. With me sitting most of the time i ended up with my top half of my body (yes including my face) well & truly splattered with watery pulp over spill. I will have to remember not to over fill the blender this time lol.

But that's this weekend (tomorrow) for today i plan on firstly getting some more work done on my dragon head trophies, my mini skull trophies & hopefully start some work for the grunge skull copying & creations feature space to work freely being the problem at the minute. A well & truly busy day ahead of me so enough rambling here off to it. Unless something comes up i should be back here with posts galore by mid next week lol.

More soon stay tuned folks.

EXPERIMENT TIME AGAIN

Along with  my  mini skull trophies & a few other things i have planned with sets of each project to be in plaster & PM. It occurred to me whilst i want to do some work in plaster for sure i don't want to totally abandon my PM roots. It further occurred to me that since i am not strictly sticking to the true PM code 100% more leaking into the realms of (God i hate the term) mixed media creations if i am to be honest with myself here. So i have set myself the challenge of blending the two worlds of plaster casting & (ugh!) mixed media creating which i do already. This way in 'my' mind at least i am still not straying totally from my creation method or materials i choose to limit myself to, well not so much more really.

As it turns out (whats new lol) i won't be the first to experiment with combining plaster & pulp which is just a variation on the paper clay theme anyway which consists of combining clay & pulp. What i have found (or not found so far - theres hope yet then) is anyone documenting anything relating to having had any positive results. Now this could simply mean that someone out there HAS found the perfect combination that produces a plaster like finish with a dramatically reduced weight ratio on the dried project  whist not compromising strength or even aiding it. Or it could simply be that no one has found a combination worth noting?

Either way apart from not wanting to go flying off totally into the mixed medial world regardless of the materials used as long as there is a token amount of PM involved to still be able to state is is a PM mixed media piece (what a contradiction honestly!) materials  such as metal, plastic, foam, cloth etc. I want to try to create a medium that IS as much PM as mixed medium. Also to be able to continue working as i do with as near totally 'hollow' creations as possible. Imagine it hollow plaster forms that weren't created in super expensive commerical pressure molding machinery. Plaster creations made by anyone at home by hand with or without some pre-cast molds involved.

So this brings me back to my new experiments then. Creating a working plaster pulp medium that can be classified either plaster, PM or even (cough!) mixed media if need be. A mix anyone virtually of any age can make at home in minutes & apply to virtually 'any' project creation. Projects that can be as hollow as they want to be & at any scale too. with half or less than the weight of straight plaster but twice (or more - ah i can dream can't i?) the strength of plaster or pure PM (no internal strengtheners such as wire etc) but more than anything reducing the amount of plaster with reducing costs in mind for large projects. Remember 'everything' i do & show you here IS with those who may be working on a tight cash budget here.

Okay before i begin this set of experiments i need to establish some ground rues for it since i don't own a high end testing facility (unless you count my kitchen as one?) i need to set some parameters that will be used on ALL the tests. It turns out my OWN home made pulp is just as refined as the commercial batch of Claycrete i purchased at £10+ (GBP) for 1lb so i will be using my own home made pulp in these experiments. The pulp will be made from old glossy computer magazines none bleached.

PREPARING SAMPLES/TEST BATCHES:

1) ALL test batch samples are to be made from the SAME commercial refined sculpting plaster & home made pulp.

2) Each NEW test batch will have a set of two 'control' samples of pure plaster made up to the same plaster content as each NEW batch prior to adding the pulp. Two plaster/pulp mixed batches & a single small two part crude skull mold.

3) ALL large pieces of each test batch will be cast in a simple mold consisting of identical medium sized ice cream plastic tub lids giving test pieces of around 3mm in thickness.

4) Each NEW small (two part) skull cast will be push molded to a thickness of approximately 1mm.

5) ALL test samples will be allowed to dry fully (air dried) before final tests begin including the sample skull mold castings.

THE TESTING:

The test samples will be judged on three levels:

1: strength. Each large flat 3mm piece will be equally stationed over two supports, then subjected to incremental weight additions to the unsupported center section. Strength will be determined at the point of breaking as the final weight is added. Both test pieces of each batch will be subjected to the identical test. Any difference (high - low) in each weight test with be judged as weakest/strongest accordingly.

2: Quality of each cast produced from the same small skull latex mold.

3: workable times. This will be determined by rolling, squeezing, kneading the entire amount of mix to be used in the small skull mold within my hands (no gloves) prior to adding to the two mold halves. The final dried skull casts finish will determine the final quality judgement & may vary according to mix ratios.

I think that establishes a fair set of tests for my experiments. I did run a quick set of test pieces using some of the Claycrete pulp as laid out in the test rules listed above. This helped me come to this set of rules & conditions for the final tests. I have not posted pictures of the large flat sample pieces for you to see since i will be using my OWN home made pulp for all the proper experiments later. I have posted a picture of the first run of the small skull test pieces.

I will be starting these tests properly mid week next week. How long they take to prepare then dry i cannot say at this time so i can't give any time scales for the results as yet obviously. I will how ever post the results here both in a standard post & in the files section (for any wannabe experimenters among us lol) as well as on my blog too.

so far the dry run test batches have proven to be as expected & in some small ways a little more than expected with the small two part skull being far stronger & smoother than anticipated.

WHERE IT ALL STARTED:

The plaster pulp mixture i used for my first dry run experiment that helped me establish the rules for my test consisted of:

PLASTER (FINE GRADE SCULPTING PLASTER): 12oz

PULP (CLAYCRETE): 4oz

WATER (ROOM TEMP): 10fl/oz

The resulting 'P&P Mix' or 'PlasterPulp Mix' (my chosen name if i make this work) remained malleable in my hands for some 15 minutes before finally adding to the small latex skull mold. For the mix ratios given above I'd recommend a 10 minute limit at best before attempting to add to any soft mold form (whilst it is still fairly wet). I let mine go a little dry on purpose to see the casting result. 15 minutes left my test piece a little too dry to work into the mold sufficiently enough to create a truly 'smooth' finish. Saying that the results are good if not fantastic considering how dry it was in my hands before adding it to the latex mold. See picture below:

So that's how my experiments are going to run, that's how i made my first dry run test batch to gauge my experiments on. You have (can see) my first ever attempt so come on experimenters or even those who don't lets see some messy results - It's fun trust me lol.

More soon.

GRUNGE SKULLS PART 1

Remember those polystyrene skulls i bought a couple of weeks back? Well i finally got two of them enhanced. Here is a reminder of the original commercial styled skulls:

Now here are the 'grunge skulls' as i have named them after a little re-sculpting:

First up one of the jaw less versions with the original on the left of course. When copying skulls in this way i like to paint the originals black for two reasons.

1) It makes following the skull easier to do for me anyway.

2) For some dark reason i seem to like them like this.

I will show you again in another post later how i am going to copy these i posted copying crude skull forms in foil before in an earlier post. These will be copied in a more refined way, i will explain that better in the later new post. For now back to these grunge skulls. Below i have high lighted just were i re-sculpted these guys:

Both the half skull shown here & the full skull were re-sculpted in exactly the same areas as shown above. With the exception to the half skull here i removed the missing tooth fully for a better look. Below the full & half skulls finished:

Much better, more 'grungy' lol. Whilst i plan to make some miniature gas mask skulls, as i had hoped too these guys will make great larger versions of my sons gas mask skulls he has tattooed on himself too, once i make the gas masks of course but more on that later.

More soon. 

MINI SKULL TROPHY/CANDLE SCONCE PART 2

So the first mold has been removed from the modified master as you can see below:

A second mold was made after this one was removed i have not gotten around to removing that one yet however. Below you can see the results of the first two plaster casts de-molded.

Below i have high lighted where the plaster spilled over the edges due to my overzealous pouring in blue. I have high lighted where i have to remove the plaster from under & around the fingers etc to bring back the original design shape(s) in purple.

You will have noticed by now that the arm bones & base have not been shown as part of the de-molded castings here. That's because there was no way i could cast those as thin as they were in plaster without them breaking off. I had hoped to add some internal support during the plaster pouring but the thickness of the bones did not allow enough room for it. I will simply cast those from reinforced paper strips or reinforced pulp later then glue them in place when dry & de-molded.

I  was hoping that the Plasticine i used as filer during the mold making stage would hold up. True modeling clay would have been the correct & proffered medium for that of course. As it turned out not only did the Plasticine actually work but also better than expected. Somehow (i am no chemist) the latex mould solution or more likely the separate thickening solution i added to the mould latex hardened the plasticine surface slightly. Which meant the latex mould once dried easily came free of the plasticine filler. Not only did this leave the plasticine in place giving me the chance to re-use the use of it again but gave me a perfect copy as well.

So i have some carving to do slightly more than expected thanks to over pouring the plaster but thats a man made fault not a fault of the materials i used. A lesson learned for next time so i have less work to do in the future lol.

More on this project soon.

SORRY EVERYONE

Hi all just a quick apology for the laps here. It's been utterly hectic to the point of being almost insane at Darkside  HQ more than usual & once again our telephone company did not send out a reminder for our telephone bill that's twice now this year a great way of getting extra cash out of customers i think (reconnection fee's!) but what can you do eh? Things being so hectic as i say we weren't paying attention so I've been offline a brief spell trying to catch up on things. I will get caught up on ALL running features very very soon i promise.

MAKING SKULLS USING MOULDING LATEX: PART 4 - UPDATE

Whoo hoo my modelling plaster came this morning two big honking 25kg bags lol. A lot i know but i have a LOT planned. Not to mention i always tend to make a few ounces (or so) too much when using plaster, just never gotten the hang of making just the right amount lol. I didn''t answer the door myself B (my wife Barbara) did. She said  the delivery guy looked small & weedy even though he had the boxed bags of plaster on a dolly (trolley) he look shattered & shaky poor soul lol.

So i have all the high grade modelling plaster i need for a while (quite a while lol) now i just need to find somewhere to store it out the way where the temperature is stable & dry, where it is out the way but i can get to it easily hmmmm!, i have no idea where lol. Anyway better get to finishing up the mini skull moulds & work on the other stuff i want to make in plaster too or rather the moulds for those projects that is.

The first of the mini skull skeleton hand trophy/candle sconce projects has now been fully coated in moulding latex & is off drying for a few days along with another (for now) slightly bigger secret project. Since i will be using these two moulds & the others when finished to do a lot of plaster casting they need to be a little thicker than the first test moulds i made so they last a little longer. Saying that thay will of course take a few days longer to dry fully before i can de-mould them.

More soon on all running posts folks.

MINI SKULL TROPHY/CANDLE SCONCES

Over the last two weeks (give or take a day) it has been rain rain & more rain every day & night.  This last week the rain showers have been coming closer together, harder & much colder. Through the night last night it got really bad resulting in my being in agony when i woke up. It is raining right now & has been since i came down stairs this morning. My disabilities as anyone will know who have any themselves ache more when the weathers rough like this. So because i store my WIPs & other things on my work table (almost to the ceiling) i am in too much pain today to move it all & do any PM per say.

With all that in mind i didn't want to do nothing today so i decided to shuffle my planned shedual around a little. Since I need to make more mini skull moulds anyway i thought i might just extend that to include the idea's i had for those plastic skeleton champagne flutes i got the other week. For those who missed that post (below) here is a reminder of how they looked originally:

They came as a pair but i am only going to be using one of them for now. I will be creating two new creations from the one flute how ever. First of all i removed the plastic 'tube' carefully & put that to one side to use some how on other things. Next came the simple task of remodelling the fingers slightly. Because they were made to fit around the plastic tube the 'inner' surface was not detailed & had rather sharp squared off edges to the fingers. A quick re-shaping using a fine craft knife took care of that little problem.

Now i want to replace the plastic tube with a mini skull, but of course the fingers are in the wrong position. Plastic being plastic it can be reworked with heat. Add to that mix these were made of a durable but soft plastic making the task even easier. I simply set a small pan of water to boil then immersed the hand in the water for a few minutes. Working quickly i then eased the fingers into the new position around one of the small wax skull copies i made earlier. Why a wax skull you may ask, well i will explain why further down the post. Below are a couple of pictures of the NEW look skeleton hand 'trophy' with wax skull in place:



I left the small plastic ruby in the fore finger, i can simply sculpt that out of the final design in the plaster & PM versions i will be making from this later. Now if you click on each image to enlarge them you will see more clearly the gaps under the skull & some of the slightly raised fingers too. If i were to attempt to make 'any' casts from it in this current state the moulding material that i am using liquid moulding latex would get under these gaps & make the removal of the final mould simply impossible. I now need to fill in these gaps some how. Modelling clay would be the correct material to use of course, since i neither have any & am working with those working on a tight budget in mind i a going to use my tried & tested material plasticine. Below are the pictures of the gaps now filled:

Not a pretty sight i know but then it is the final mould copy we are interested in here not the original item after all. Now this is ready for copying.

So before i close this post for now i will let you know what i have planned for this project. The first creation will be a couple of variations of almost how it looks now. As i say i will be making both plaster & PM versions. One of my sons who is now a skilled tattooist has been creating some rather nice images of skulls wearing gas masks. He has also come up with a brilliant twist on that theme too. I promised him a couple of them in plaster later for his permission to use the design. I might give him a couple of these skeleton trophies to lol. I won't say what the second gas mask design involves as i want to keep that design a secret until the last possible minute it IS awesome though i assure you lol.

The second variation i want to make using this skeleton trophy design i a miniature skeleton candle sconce.  This is the reason why i used a wax skull at this stage, After i copy this as is for the trophy designs, i will then sculpt out a small cavity to hold those small self contained candles that come in they're own foil containers. Picture on all those things to come as they develop later lol.

More soon.

THINGS BEING DONE & THINGS STILL TO COME - UPDATE

well thanks to a rather stupid late bed time followed by a rough pain filled nights sleep (got carried away watching Bleech episodes stretched out a very uncomfortable settee. Up to episode 120 now I watch a LOT of complete animae' series in between Bleech episodes) then thanks to my TENS machine struggling to combat the foul third days worth of cold rain causing excess pain in my wreck of an old body. I didn't get too much done today PM wise.

It hasn't been a total wasted day though. I managed to tweak some of the facial features of the skull on the new look wall mounted grim reapers scythe & get the first layer of dragon skin bone mix on there too. A nice coating of off white (a hint of yellow) which i will build up to around 3/4 layers before adding the final white & black paint washes for the final ancient bone effect. I won't be adding anymore today on the scythe how ever even though it will be ready for a second coat by the time i finish this post, i am just in too much pain now to concentrate (damn weather, damn, damn body) but i can get the final layers on tomorrow easily with 10/15 minute drying times between coats. Followed up by 2 days drying time above a radiator since theres no getting any washing on a line in this weather that helps me having the central heating on lol. I should have the new look scythe finished completely by mid week next week. Pictures then folks it is looking good so far though i must say lol.

I got the neck finished on the first of the 2 female dragon head trophies yesterday & the last of the frons (on the lower jaw) that i am working on. As the neck needs to be a little thicker than i would normally make the rest of the head that is going to take a couple of days drying time. So whilst that has been stood drying i got some work done on the second female dragon head trophy. I managed to get the lower jaw on her yesterday & add some of the facial features to the cheeks & neck/jaw sections. I will be adding more facial features including some of the horns in the next few days. again pictures later on those.

On a good note a new supply (2 litres) of moulding latex i ordered a couple of days back online arrived about an hour ago so i can get to work making a few more moulds of my small skulls i have planned for projects, but i am still waiting for the 50kgs of modeling grade plaster of Paris i ordered to arrive yet. As i said prior i have some projects both in paper mache & plaster media to work on. Still the plaster not being here gives me time to make the extra moulds in advance to help reduce the mass casting time scale ahead of me.

I will be starting the work with those 3 styrene skulls next weekend. The feature post for those will include how to modify them (re-sculpting them slightly) as well as how to copy them using foil & paper strips. Something i covered in a YouTube HOW TO video, but worth repeating here again i think.

I should have some updates on some of my custom bowls & vases that are still in the WIP stage as yet too around the week after next. Just thought I'd throw that in the mix lol.

So things to do around the house that i can just about manage to do, washing dishes, putting washing in the washing machine etc so i am off for the day after i go check on whats going on in the blog world lol. More soon folks stay tuned. If you can't stay tuned then don't forget to pop back here when you can lol. 

MY YOUTUBE 'HOW TO' VIDEO'S ON DVD SOON

I have always intended, well for some time now on making  DVD's of my HOW TO video's. The original plan was in fact to make high grade video HOW TO's compiled on DVD but this was not going to happen until after i build a new PC & get better video recording equipment/lighting. The new PC build was always planned for 'after' this coming new year (2011). In advance how ever i am discovering that a lot of people are still using dial up & don't have access to places like YouTube etc as readily as most of us do.

So both with the fact that many people have not yet seen a single one of my 'current' HOW TO video's combined with a fact finding mission to see just how popular this venture may actually be considering all the ready out there information there is be it free online, DVD's, books. blogs etc. I am currently as time allows me since video editing is a time consuming task even when you know what your doing, re-editing ALL my current 5/10 minute HOW TO video's as can be currently seen on YouTube into single stand alone video's which can then be accessed from a simple menu, AKA standard DVD video selection.

Owing to a faulty hard drive where ALL my original HOW TO video files had been stored crashing before i could finish backing them up to CD i had to resort to downloading many of my own damn videos from YouTube, around 1/3rd of them in fact. I NOW have all my missing pieces ready to start editing them. I do have one more single hurdle to get over at this point before i can begin work. YouTube is now by default storing ALL video files uploaded by the public in MP4 format. Now whilst this IS a better format allowing for HD playback etc not everyone has MP4 playback codec capability just yet, myself included. So with this in mind i am going to need some time to re-code these files back down to MP2/3 format so the general public who don't keep up with modern fast tracking technology simply because the large money grabbing companies think we 'should' because they deem it so. Again myself included in this group of people.

The  re-coding in itself is going to take me at least a week (time allowing) to do so. When i am finished how ever i will be packing as many full single stand alone project video's onto a single DVD(s) as possible. Now this/these early trial run DVDs will not come in commercial style cases nor will they have fancy high end printed DVD labels on them either (I need to purchase a new direct DVD label printing printer my current RS200 in down & out lol) that will come later. Many of these early HOW TO video's were filmed using a then crappy web cam alongside sometimes poor lighting. Eventually i did begin using a better camera (my Sony PSP 3000) but still often had to fight with crappy lighting conditions. One or two of the early HOW TO video's are also only slide show format, but the majority are full video's of the projects from start to finish & come as complete HOW TO information anyone may require when starting out in this art form. So with all this in mind these 'early' versions WILL be priced as low as i can make them simply to try to recoupe some costs for the blank DVDs, plastic sleeves & production time, somewhere around £10.00 ($18.00, 14 Euros etc) i will also be making the P&P inclusive too.

So to round this post off. I will be looking for a couple of DVD 'testers' for  both the UK & European formats.  Now i don't want dozens of testers here just say two per regional format. The testers WILL be sent FULL versions of at leat one DVD. I may not get all my current HOW TO's on a single DVD & may have to do them in single sets ie: DVD 1, DVD 2 etc. Full news on this later including when people can formally request to be a tester too once work is completed.

THINGS BEING DONE & THINGS STILL TO COME

With so much to do & already missing a pre-planned Halloween deadline i set for myself a while back. This post is essentially a huge update of current projects, future projects, HOW TO video news etc. Basically the idea being i give you a host of posts in a single huge update post to read in one go so i can concentrate on my WIPs & repairs etc  for the following week or so & then i don't have to feel guilty not updating things here in fragments as normal whilst i get on with things. So where to begin then? Well first of all this IS a much longer post than normal. & around one third of the way down there are some pictures that are of a 'simulated' graphic 'bloody' nature that some people may find offensive or be disturbed by in some manor.

I SEE DRAGONS AGAIN - UPDATE:

There isn't much to report on this project right now. As you can see from the picture below i have only gotten as far as adding some frons to the cheek sections at this point. Why you may say when i last stated this dragon trophy would be going to paint this very week? Well as things do with larger projects go you tend to use a lot more materials than smaller projects. If your like me you don't always stop to think 'now do i have everything i need?' A golden rule of course - DO SO first!. Well to begin with i miss-judged my hot glue stick supply & almost ran out before i was done with the glue gun. I still have to add some frons the the lower jaw. As you can see i also have now added the neck to this trophy too now:



The ears have also now had the final detailing added to them. I still have to create the teeth & tongue yet but that's a small job. I need to also add a few 'stretched skin' details to the neck where it connects to the lower jaw & head too but again that is a small thing to do.

Once all that has been done i will be giving 'this' dragon trophy a double layer of thin cheap handkerchief tissue wrinkly, skin look. The others will have a scale & tissue skin combination to them when i get them to that stage later. Now apart from the few more required frons & neck stretched skin effect when i went rooting through my back up supplies to check for some more glue sticks i realised my family had been using my supply of tissues faster than they had been replacing them, er!, essentially they had NOT replaced any of the entire boxes they had taken away - gotta love they're little butts huh lol.

So this all took place over the weekend just gone. Since it was art supply run time of the month anyway yesterday, i figured okay leave this here for the weekend, come back to it next week when i get my art supplies topped up again. Find something else to work on over the next four days, art supply run days are always on a Tuesday at the end of each 'lunar' month (every four weeks) as a rule. 

REPAIRING MY WALL MOUNTED GRIM REAPER - UPDATE:

So remember my wall mounted grim reaper? No, never mind there should be a picture in the right hand columns the finished projects listing. Here is a picture of him finished 'before' one of my eldest sons kept ignoring my warnings about running down the stairs, firstly because it is something we have tried to instill in ALL our children (as you do!) & secondly because most of my children are or are going to to be six feet plus. Well he ran into poor grim three times before he got the message. The last time he got a damn good clawing across his left arm, unfortunately he snapped the left arm damn near off the poor grim too. Here is the finished grim pre-damaged:

I still have to repair the arm (the one holding the sand) but when i came to doing it this weekend gone i thought to myself "That scythe is pretty crap. Plain & boring!". So i decided to re-model the scythe to what you see below:

As you can see i kept the blade but scrapped the shaft. The original straight shaft was just too boring & where the blade connects to the shaft at the top was just too plain. So i am in the process of making a new shaft as you can see with a few curves to it this time. Where the blade connects to the shaft at the top i have now added a skull to liven things up a little.

I still need to add another 5/6 layers of news paper strips to the shaft before painting, but the skull simply requires a couple of coats of bone mix dragon skin to finish that off. A few rust effects added to the blade along with some dried blood effects & viola' a new improved scythe.

MORE TRICKS & TIPS:

I have  few more tricks & tips for you to come still  which i will slip in between posts as i go once i get the pictures formatted etc later, so stay tuned for those coming very soon folks.

SO YOU WANT TO DO ART, PAPER MACHE ESPECIALLY BUT YOU DON'T HAVE MUCH IF ANY OF AN ARTISTIC BONE IN YOUR BODY?

Paper mache is possibly the cheapest form of art going whilst being possibly the most planet friendly (recycling) art form out there. Yes i know there are 'other' artists who recycle tins etc in their art. Paper mache how ever can be paper/card stock only or it can also include 'mixed media' too & i mean anything media wise & STILL be classified as paper mache.

Now whilst planning (creating them NOW)  a series of projects using life sized & smaller size  ranges of skulls in paper mache. There are a 'few' things i want to make that for fire safety, strength/durability & speed of creation, paper mache is simply NOT best suited if at all. So 'some' of the skulls i am currently working on are going to be made from either 'solid' plaster or 'hollow' plaster forms. Not only will these have they're OWN dedicated Etsy shop created for them but i might even create a totally new separate blog for them too. I have not thought 'that' far ahead yet.

Now even though i go on my art supply runs to buy specific items (PVA glue, paper of varying types, 140/180 grade paper & box salvaging etc) i always keep my eye's open for 'ideas' that can be found from many & often totally unexpected sources be they materials or indeed  'whole' objects too. Here are a couple of items i picked up at my local ASDA store whilst grocery shopping during this months art supply run (rice, pasta, curries favourites & the like i buy for myself lol) whilst spotting the store had just gotten in this years Halloween products.

I spotted these fantastic polystyrene foam skulls (one third life size) that were a steal at three for only £5.00:

Now the  untrained eye or put another way those who may not know too much about anatomy may not easily spot the few short comings in these skulls. They are few but very 'fixable' faults. The worst one that i feel 'must' be corrected before these skulls can be used to any serious manor: The side of the temples as you can see from the central skull here are not 'sunk in' as with a real skull. The long bone running along the skull from the cheek bone stops short slightly & there is no 'hole' for the ear as in a real skull. The other faults are minor & can be glossed over later or simply ignored. I will show you in a future HOW TO just how to 'alter' these skulls in a way that you can adopt & modify with similar skulls of either foam or wax materials & sizes with a mind to copying them using paper mache techniques whilst altering the initial design making both a version of your own & mass copies.

Another bargain:

These all plastic champagne flutes. Now whist there is little room for copying & re-creating these with enough of a design change to truly call the 'new' copies your own design i have an idea in mind for these little plastic beauties that again i will show you how to not only copy  using moulding latex with these complex forms but also modifying them along the way like the foam skulls above. I will show you how to copy these 'then' transform them along with the skulls into totally NEW & functional objects that will please any true dark Gothic fan or Halloween fan alike.

WHY AREN'T THERE ANY NEW HOW TO VIDEOS LATELY?

I think i mentioned my only decent source for video shooting was my PSP hand held  3000 series which  my two youngest broke a little while back? If not then i apologise folks. So i haven't made or uploaded any recent HOW TO videos recently as i say my only decent video shooting tool was wrecked.

I did how ever replace this on my art supply run.  Now someone is bound to be thinking why replace that when you can get a far superior dedicated camera instead,. Well i did have the PSP (not the newest smaller model) to which i still have my camera, PSP to PC cable (PS3 USB power cable which is cross platform friendly between the PS3 & the PSP range), eight gig memory card & a few games (they  broke over two hundred pounds worth of my UMD games too) so i only required the PSP replaced. Now i simply can't stand the newer model &  could have bought a pre-owned PSP for some £79.00. I how ever am loathe to buying 'other peoples' potential troubles not knowing the history of an object & will ONLY do so when lack of cash forces me to do so which is rare. So shunning the wealth of available pre-owned models i simply purchased a brand new series 3000 model, amazingly it still cost me around £139.00. The original one i had cost £149.00 some two years ago!. Don't you just love a money grabbing greedy companies that are out there?

Any way long story short (eventually) i NOW have the means to do more HOW TO videos for YouTube & will get back to it as son as i possibly can. 

There now all done for now. I warned you this was a much bigger post than normal didn't i lol. More soon on ALL the topics raised in this post. Now i have way to much to do so i will shoot off for now, but i WILL be back sometime next week with updates, full HOW TO's & more. Oh i will be here to respond to any comment posts of course lol.

Back soon.

I SEE DRAGONS - AGAIN! PART 3 (SNEAK PEEK)

Work on these large wall mountable dragon heads is progressing nicely even if i do say so myself lol. The original plan was to make one female & one male dragon head. When i began adding the frons to the female head (shown below) i began to wonder what she might look like with horns instead of frons. The obvious solution of course was to quickly make up another female head in the same style but add horns instead of frons - logical really lol.

As you can see (click on image to enlarge) the ears still are unfinished, the eye lids need defining a little more too. I will be adding some more frons to the sides of the cheeks & the lower jaw along the way too. I have not started on the teeth or the tongues yet for either heads but will make those last since they will only take an hour or so to make for both dragons at once. Oh & i still have to add a small neck section to each head too later nearly forgot that until now lol.

Below is the second female head that will have horns instead of frons like her friend above.

The horns on the cheek are only temporary for now to help me gauge what sizes i want to have there finally. I still need to work out just how many is enough yet too lol.

The blue eyes on the second female again like the horns are only temporary. For this size of dragons head(s) i use medium sized plastic balls. The type found in ball pools for toddlers. I will layer around four layers of PM strips over each section of ball showing through the eye sockets then remove the plastic balls later from the inside. Whilst i 'don't' ever use wire or wooden frames etc in my large projects (or any) i do sometimes use shapes or forms from plastic items. I always how ever remove ALL traces of said during the build. With the exception of trace amounts  of foil  i used  for bulking (shaping horns, noses, cheeks etc) or copying    along with cling film for copying too i always attempt to remove as much of this as possible during the build.

More soon as work progresses.