Page 60 - Creating Whimsical Characters Using Simple Wood and Paper Forms, Wire, Paperclay, and Encaustic Medium

The carousel is in three sections: the crown, the top circle with

decorative border, and the base with the center pieces attached.

When I coated both sides of the cardboard designs on the
decorative board with paperclay, I simplified the design by filling in
some of the smaller holes. I also built up the area between the

forms.

We used graph paper to figure out how many carousel figures

would fit on the base and how large they could be.

Once I knew the height and width limitations, I used graph paper to
sketch out each of our carousel gargoyles. I scanned my sketches
and took them into Photoshop to resize them to exact scale and

printed them out on card stock. Gerry used these to make sure the
armature pieces were built to scale.

Each of the characters were sculpted individually. Simpler ones

were sculpted in a single setting.

The more complex characters had to be sculpted in multiple
phases. Majesty, the kestrel, was sculpted in three phases. I put a

base coat on the body and wings and had to hang him upside
down to dry. I then sculpted the details on the front side. When

they were dry, I added the details on the back.

Seaweed was sculpted in two phases. In the first phase, I put a base
coat on the body along with a thin version of the long tail. To dry

properly, Seaweed had to be laid on his side on wax paper covered
slats of wood. I put a piece of wax paper between the fins and the

tail to keep them from sticking together. Once the paperclay was
dry, the tail was strong enough to support the weight of additional
paperclay added for the details.

When the paperclay was dry, I painted all the individual pieces with

a single coat of R&F Encaustic Gesso.

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