Humpity Dumpity


I tried to avoid having to do it, but now that it's done I'm so glad I did. The Integrity Layer. No longer delicate, these set pieces can now be man-handled and tossed around they are so stable. No chipping plaster, no paint flaking away later, yay.

It took another week but I finished covering the last pieces today with heavy brown bag paper and my new secret papier maché weapon: Elmer's Art Paste ( a brief moment of reverence for this product, please, thank you.) People, this stuff was a revelation. I only tried it at first because I had used every glue I had in the house without any luck. I need to adhere paper to the plaster and burlap layer around all the edges for a smooth finish but nothing I tried had enough GRAB to stick on that surface over all the weird angles. It was taking fore-evah.

To the rescue: I mixed a batch of the art paste at half the water directed to really make it a gooey clear gel (and lawd lawd it worked so well it practically snatched the paper strips out of my hands and fastened them permanently without me! Glorious stuff. So sculptural, so satisfying to work with. GRAB--BAM!


The cats were exhausted by helping me* tear baskets full of brown bags into organically torn shapes (no cut edges allowed as they would show as such under the paint layer). I first covered all the edges with strips and then filled in. These little bags of glue powder are as valuable as gold to me. Git yursef some!

In preparation for the color/paint layer, I am now refitting the pieces together. It's a lot more difficult than I imagined as the loose pieces are unwieldy and don't seem to return to how they were when they were still attached by screws. So far, it's a bit like trying to put the shells of an egg back the way it was before cracking open. All those angles and curves.

I've decided to take the large back-40-acres and position it further away from the main set, make them larger scale/more distant hills, freestanding in front of the sky backdrop. I'll know more when I illustrate the shot-by-shot but I don't believe I'll need contiguous land showing from the sides after all.

(*not really, but it seemed that way. hee)

Comments

  1. I love learning about all of this! And I have a cat-for-hire if you need anything torn, chewed, or shredded.

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  2. Ha!

    very cool progress again Herself! You are working toward the future....

    the puzzle set looks really cool.

    jriggity

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  3. Hee, Jessica, you need Echo there! Do you think we should shoot the scenes soon or... next year? Will we still be in touch? I gotta have you in this, your perfect for it!

    I'm thinking of buying a $150 Flip video camera or a better new Kodak coming out in October (too late for this year) to shoot it with.

    Thanks, Justin man. Get ready for some PAINT!

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  4. It can't help thinking it's slightly sinister that the mascot for (what I presume is) one of the USA's leading glue brands is... a cow. I was thinking the same thing looking at the glue bottle on castlegardener's blog. Even worse, it's a cow with a name!

    Is the art glue you are using some kind of cellulose paste, like strong wallpaper paste?

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  5. Hey Shell, what's all this talk bout a different camera? Not getting the Lumix now? One of the beauties of it is, it will shoot video as well as still pics. Though I don't think it shoots video in HD... probably should check on that.

    Oh, and just to let you know.... every time I open your blog now I get a popup asking for my login and password for Twitter.

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  6. Mikee Strider! NO!! Doode, I'm so all over the LUMIX! All the way! Magic time.

    The other camera would be something I could send to Jessica for the live action ending that would be no pressure and affordable.

    Thanks for telling me about the Twitter glitch. Sucks. Maybe I'll drop the Twitter feed on the blog. Has that login deal been happening for a long time?

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  7. Oh Ceri! Don't even ask "THE" horrible question! lallalalla la I can't hear you. Listen, if it were cow that would be one thing, but I was afraid it was horse!

    I'll Google a little and get back to you. But even if Soylent Green is people that art paste is da bomb great.

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  8. Whew! if it says it's made out of:

    "METHYL CELLULOSE POLYMER"

    Doesn't that mean it's plant/plastics based vs. Ani-mule?!

    hoping.

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  9. Oh ok... just wondering about the camera talk.

    Halfland has only been twitterpating me for a few days now.... maybe 3 or 4. I noticed your twitter feed disappeared a month or so ago though... I just figured you had stopped updating it. It still says "here's what I'm up to right now", and it seems to try to load something there for a while, but then it just gives up and leaves that area blank.

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  10. Hey, I was just perusing your blog yet again, and marveling at the coincidence....

    What are the chances the quake would hit during your "cutting up halfland" process? Hmmm?

    Life imitates art perhaps? Or just me being a dufus as usual? ;)

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  11. Hi Mikeeeeadoodles, I Twitter nearly everything, everyday. It helps me so much I can track how much I'm sleeping, eating, medicining, emoting, working, very objectively. Love it. I have The Sven to thank for the intro to it couple years ago now.

    I too thought about the earthquake connection! That was a really really odd co-winkitty. I better treat this world right!

    Thanks Ryan!

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  12. Hi Shelley, I pretty sure "METHYL CELLULOSE POLYMER" is made from trees (or some synthetic version of tree cellulose). Same stuff as wallpaper paste.

    Definitely no livestock involved, so don't worry!

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  13. I wonder if your twitterage is working for anybody else, and maybe just not me? Maybe you ought to put out the question on the blog. I guess Paul must be able to read it? But then he might have a password and login.

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  14. Thanks, Ceri. No creature had to die for me to make Halfland! Yay!

    Hi Mikeee, I'll check on Paul's computer, but I believe the Twitter feed should just sit there for all to see?!

    Any other reader being prompted for a password? (It's not good reading, it's just now I'm curious about what's happening.)

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  15. This is coming along really well! The set is looking impressive to say the least.

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  16. I get prompted for a twitter password, but I can still read your blog and post comments without it... very peculiar.

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  17. Hi Paul! hang on, this'll be an exciting week!

    Hi Ceri, hmmm. Twitter poop. Twitter feed wouldn't/shouldn't affect the blog. But it's still weirdo that it prompts all of a sudden. Maybe I'll dump the feed here as I'm posting more now and Twitter isn't needed to explain what I'm doing as much.

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