Sculpture Project: T Minus Three Days

I started writing this post at 8:30 AM Thursday morning. I'd been up for an hour working on the cardboard sculpture. Can I say that again? I have been working on the cardboard sculpture for how many days now? Lots.

The alien queen's head is looking better. I'd talked with my instructor for on Tuesday night about issues around how to do the eyes. Since I'd never seen the eyes in any pictures, my assumption was that they were protected by the armor plating. So my instructor pointed out that forming some shadow areas around where the eyes would be might prove useful at implying the presence of eyes without actually trying to figure out how to draw them out. Her point being that without any idea of what they should look like, it would be extremely difficult to pull off a good rendition that wouldn't detract from the overall presentation. By using darker paint under the armor plating, it would allow the viewer try to guess what the eyes look like. Interestingly enough, I discovered that HR Giger explicitly designed the alien(s) to not have eyes. His reasoning being that the creature is even more terrifying if you can't see where it's looking. Quite true I would say.

We also talked about paper mache clay afterward. I mentioned I had mixed up a recipe I found over on  and used it to form the ridges along her skull. The problem was that the clay was heavy. Once again, my instructor had something useful to add. She showed me a new batch of clay they had just ordered called Sculptamold. It's easy to shape, dries hard and can be sanded or painted. Most importantly, it is light weight. I went home a did some research. A quick check turned up a local supplier who carried the Sculptamold in three pound bags. The following evening, I dashed down to the supplier and grabbed a two bags to be on the safe side.
Ultimate Paper Mache. I used about two pounds to build up the area around her maw. I added too much weight in my opinion but this is a learning process so things like that are going to happen. Nonetheless, she definitely has a unique look. By the way, the head is about three feet long from the back to the front. When I add on the pharyngeal jaw, she's going to be nearly four feet in length. Supporting the weight with this size of an object is going to be difficult. Especially since I didn't add think beforehand to add anything for suspension harness attachment points. Live and learn.

Friday morning and afternoon I had to work on the contract. But Friday night I switched over to sculpture and managed to build up about a two feet of length on her tail which is in the photo to the right. It's made from individual cardboard vertebrae (I said that word again) that even have little discs between each connection point. Around 1:00 AM I ran out of steam and had to knock off for the night.

It won't have free time until afternoon as I must work on the contract. When you're a contractor, there are no three day weekends (since this is Memorial Day weekend), holidays or any sort benefits. Oh well, such is life. Tonight, I'll dive back in to constructing the tail as I need about another three feet of length on it. Gesso needs to be applied to the front part of her head too for covering the Sculptamold. Then there's the teeth, claws, arm and leg details..., it never ends.

Oh, and here's one last photo of parts in the making. This is a mock up for several digits on one of her claws. I rolled up aluminum foil and scrunched it into the basic shape of claws to see what it would look like. You're looking at the claws from the bottom side (they curl toward the viewer). I managed to get a nice spindly look. If I can coat this over with some Sculptamold, I think I they might make a nice addition to the project.

Cardboard Sculpture: 7 Days to Deadline

Only seven days remain before the sculpture must be complete. Since it's going on display in the student union, I need to make this look as good as possible while still falling within the time constraints.  That means I'm going to have to cut some features as well as skip some detailing too. Tough choice will have to be made to keep on track but that's what the game is all about.

Here's the latest shot of my queen alien's head. She sort of looks like a dolphin or porpoise right now

but some detailing will help out as will some paint. Right now, she has the cardboard structure beneath,  is partially layered in paper mache and also has a row of ridges on her skull that is formed out of paper mache clay. I'd work more on her tonight but I'm a total zombie at this point and have to sleep. Tomorrow evening after I wrap up work, I'll tackle more features on her head as it is the single most important piece to the installation in my opinion. I'll probably continue layering some paper mache to smooth out her skin and I'll also consider adding some more of the armor plating that flows around her eyes. On Thursday, I'd like to be ready to gesso the head in preparation for a coat of paint. Eventually I have to creating both sets of jagged teeth for her outer and inner mouths but that will essentially require creating two sets of dentures. Ugh! How am I ever going to find the time to manage all this with work going on too? I'll worry about that later. Time to sleep now because I'm a permanent resident in Zombie City now.

Cardboard Sculpture: Ready For Paper Mache

As another day grinds to an end, I built more structural aspects of the alien queen's head. The picture only shows her head but I'll take an full skeleton shot soon. Some people will probably look at what I have now and say it doesn't look anything like an alien queen. Perhaps they're right. Maybe it looks more like a crocodile head now but I've yet to start working on adding details. I'll decide tomorrow morning if I want to start covering various parts of her skull and crown area with paper mache. I still need to work on her tail so detail work might have to wait another two days or so.

Tomorrow night, I'll take a look at the installation site again and maybe even try doing a mock up of where she would go under the stairwell. If I do, I'll bet I get a couple of odd stares from the few passers by who are there that time of evening.

 I skipped eating once again to work longer hours on the project so I'm totally exhausted. Time to go grab a quick bite of food so I don't lay awake all night starving. After that, I'll crash as I don't have an ounce of energy left.

More Cardboard Tips and Tricks

Here are a few more hints for working with cardboard. When trying to make cylinders, I mentioned making numerous scribe marks in the outer circumference of the band that would wrap the cylinder. Making splines takes time and sometimes you might not feel like it's necessary. In those cases, try the rolling pin shortcut. Go into the kitchen and find a rolling pin used flattening dough. Got one? Okay, next, take the strip you will use for the circumference of the cylinder and lay it down on a table. Take the rolling pin and flatten it out. This works best if the corrugations are cut to run parallel to the center axis line of the cylinder. Now take the flattened cardboard and slowly curl it around a wood dowel or a broom handle to give it a curl. On the most part, this will yield a quick cylinder shape. Cut end pieces as normal, glue it together and you're done. It's not perfect but it's fast, relatively speaking.

Need to make a two dimensional joint? What is that? It's a joint that allows for adjustment in two
different planes. I needed several joints like this on my project because I don't know how the final installation will look and need some flexibility to make changes to body positions on the queen alien. This joint cap can rotate around the bottom cylinder and the lever arm rotates around the small axle (only about 30 degrees of movement though).

To make the joint, I first assembled a cylinder and a slightly larger slip-fit sleeve cylinder that goes over it. This allows for a rotating joint (although it doesn't have any mechanism to stop the joint from decoupling as is). Next, I make a tightly rolled cylinder I will use for the second axis. This cylinder is rolled up tightly like a spiral around the axis of the cylinder. Once I have a solid axle of sorts, I then piece together a cap that will slide over the slip-fit sleeve. The cap is made by cutting triangular wedges out that allow for it to fold down over the slip-fit sleeve. I also cut a rectangular opening in the top part of the cylinder cap. Through the center of the slip-fit sleeve, I cut a tab large enough to fit the axle into. I bend the tabs down and towards the center of the cylinder to provide something additional for the axle to rest on. I slide the axle into the tab slots then make a strip that wraps the axle (using the rolling pin method). This strip attaches to whatever it is I need to move in the two planes. Once you glue to cap to the slip-fit sleeve and the strip ends to the lever arm that has to rotate/move, you'll have a movable joint. While
it won't be strong enough to hold too much weight, it will allow for adjustments as necessary.

To keep the joint from uncoupling will require some trickery to push against both sides of the joint. In my case, I only need temporary rotation until I know exactly how the sculpture positioned for installation. At that point, I will either use wire to compress the joint by anchoring to other parts of the sculpture or I'll glue the joint solid.

Oh oh, I'm out of time. Gotta go work on contract stuff to pay some of the bills (hopefully enough earning enough o survive). I hope you found this helpful at least for idea generation.

Cardboard Sculpture: The head Takes Shape

The red-eye express continues. After a full-throttle day of cardboard sculpture work, I'm listening to
some Sak Noel while I'm scribbling out this post when I should be going to sleep.  I only ate once I was so busy. But I did make some progress although not enough. I managed to put together the front part of the queen's head. She has a huge mandible. Even thought it may seem out of proportion, I wanted the focus to be on her jaws. Once I add some teeth, she'll start to look more a beast that means business. Fleshing out some skin and detailing her inner choppers will add icing to the cake.

The back of her head is only a set of forms right now. I'll have to add some skeletal support at the top for her sweeping crown but that's work for another day.

I have to admit I'm so focused on this project everything else is suffering. My friends think I've vanished from the Earth. I'm only eating when my stomach growls so loud I can't stand the noise (or the hunger) anymore. And as for a social life, forget it. But that's all part of the game considering the fast timetable involved. I'll manage but this place sure is becoming a mess. I'll deal with that after the project is over though. For now, I need to go crawl into bed and give up the fight for the day.

Cardboard Sculpture: Building the Mandibles

I only have time to provide a blitzkrieg update before I have to blast off to set up my wire Godzilla sculpture at the Shoreline Community College art gallery this morning.

I've been hard at work typically doing contract work in the mornings and switching over to work on the cardboard sculpture during afternoon and evening. I've temporarily stopped doing anything else as I work non-stop until at least 10:00 PM or later on the sculpture. With only 10 days remaining, there is so much to do.

As of this morning, I was working on her mandibles including the inner mouth. The lower and upper
jaws are ready as is the back jaw bone attachment for each side. Some of what you see in the picture is merely scaffolding to position the mandibles and won't be included in the sculpture. I'll have to figure out a good way to hold odd pieces like this later when I have more time.

As for the project, next I have to attach the lower and upper jaws together. I'll get to that when I return from the art gallery. Seems I'm almost out of glue too. Only three sticks left from a fifty stick pack. Good thing I have another 40 percent off coupon for Joann as they have some affordable glue packs there when using the discount. Gotta run. More later.

The Alien Queen: A Test of Endurance

Exhaustion sets in as I grind my way to the end of another day. Here's what the alien queen looks like as of tonight. Also, please ignore the mess you can see everywhere as I've been madly flinging things here, there and everywhere as I try to complete the queen by the project due date.

What you see in the picture on the right is her torso. She now has skeletal structures for both legs and all four arms which includes the pair closest to her spine which are large and the smaller pair which are slightly lower and more towards the center line of her belly. I haven't started work on her head yet which is in the queue for tomorrow afternoon when I finish up with work. It will probably take at least three days to come up with simplistic head (not including the inner extendable mouth). After that, I'll have to work on her tail. When that's finished, if there is any time left before the project deadline, I'll start adding details which will include skin in some areas, paint and anything else I think adds visual value.

Speaking of messes, don't even ask how much cardboard I have as the answer is way too much. But I'd rather have a surplus and spend time sending to recycling rather than run short during the project. I'm almost out of glue too. I had a bag of 50 sticks but am now down to around a dozen. It won't take long to burn through the remaining sticks. I've also discovered a number of areas needing improvement when it comes to my studio area. It would be helpful to have one those flexible cable grinders so I could shape the sections where I'm layering cardboard. Grizzly has a nice hanging model that uses a foot pedal too but they're all the way up in Bellingham which is probably about an hour and a half drive one way. No time for that kind of a drive now. Another key thing I need is to provide a means to hang objects from the ceiling so I can work on them. Why? Because in this case, the queen is becoming heavy enough she won't balance. As a result, I've had two accidents where she tipped over and some of the parts suffered minor damage. The ability to suspend her would at least keep her from hitting the floor. But no time for that now. Sleep is the priority of the moment as I'm about to completely crash and burn in the physical sense since I didn't take time to eat much today.