Tuesday, April 16, 2013

OK Sorry it has been a couple weeks I will try to do better in the future.  I started playing with the acrylic paper mache.  I decided to use it to finish up a Harry Potter style mandrake  that I actually started a while back ( ok it was over a year ago that I started it lol).  I all ready had the main body and shape made out of Jute rope ( I use warped jute a lot but that is a post for a later day) so all I needed to do was cover the form and sculpt in the details.   Here is a picture of the rope body.


 I have wraped the arms and legs in Plastic wrap so they stay out of my way while I sculpt the body.I have also painted a layer of acrylic medium on the body.  Here it is as I start putting the paper mache on the body
At first when you are started to put on the paper mache on it will be very rough and but I soon learned that I could smooth it by dipping my palette knife ( which I use to sculpt with) in water and keeping the surface damp or by using paint brush and water.


So after completely covering the body I added some major shapes and let it dry over night.


  The next day I started in on the face.  The eyes are dark brown/black glass taxidermy eyes. The face came together very quickly and I really like how it is looking.   I am very happy with how hard the paper mache dries and how easy it is to work with.  I let it dry over night again before doing more sculpting or any painting.

So here he is in his pot (ok climbing out of his pot).  I have started working on his arms and legs/roots.  The next post will be of him painted.