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The papier mache-ing continues.  I am starting to worry about the weight of the papier mache as we have already used about 3-4 lbs. of flour to apply the paper.  The first two "human" giants I made were about 17 lbs each (and no papier mache.)  I wonder if this one will be heavier.  Here Bella rests as the body parts dry.

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The Lady Liberty head gets its first coat of primer.  It will be interesting to paint a green skinned person and still try to get some definition and feature...that will come soon.  The shrinking of the drying paper over the thermoplastic casting has caused the face to distort a bit from my original sculpture, but that can't be helped at this point.  Lesson for the future.

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Making the torch has been a quandary...trying to decide what to make it out of that would be light and give the right look.  We searched for baskets that would have the right proportions but with no luck.  Now, with time moving on, I took a 5 gallon bucket with a cracked bottom, and cut it down, scalloping the edge and then distorting it with a heat gun.  Now we are moving forward again!  Not as elegant as the original, but this is a puppet, after all.

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Repairs on the Mare's head!
The Mare's head was damaged on the move last year out to Mare Island Preserve Visitor Center (a windy afternoon on the back of a flat bed truck!)  I have begun repairs.  I had forgotten how huge the mare is.  The head is about 4 feet long.  Wow!  Even though I made it, I am surprised.

 
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The Solano County Fair opens tomorrow (June 23) and giant puppets Mariano and Benicia Vallejo will be there in the City of Vallejo's booth, to answer questions about the 4th of July parade and what it is like to be 10 feet tall!  Obviously the best booth at the fair!  
(to put things in perspective, the black curtain behind them is about 7 feet tall.)

 
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Yet another day papier mache-ing (Jessie, who worked with us last year on the horse, is back, adding layers to the arms and head!)

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New knowledge:  Not only does papier mache shrink when it dries, but as it shrinks over styrofoam, certain parts of the foam compress whereas others do not do so as much, so the arms that I so lovingly carved into nice rounded shapes have morphed back into to blocky shapes.  They will look fine on the puppet but are not how I envisioned them.

 
Today was more papier mache-ing.  Thin layers dry fast in the warm Vallejo sun, so the work goes well.  Today I learned that papier mache shrinks when it dries.  Not a real problem for us, but interesting to know.
Thanks to Wallace for dropping in for a bit more papier macheing.


TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF PUPPET CONSTRUCTION - (Just for fun:)
Mon, Tue, Wed. 
Finish papier mache-ing, start painting.  Start work on structure of puppet body
Thur. Fri:
Costume begins, detail work, torch
Sat:
Finish puppet to 90-95% mark.


In the meanwhile, I will get the giant horse head and legs from the Mare Island Visitor Center and bring them to the studio to work on and repair.  (Don't know about the horse?  Check it and the other giants out at http://magicalmoonshine.org/giantpuppet.htm )


Saturday and perhaps Sunday will be big work days.
 
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The Papier Mache crew goes to work on the arms and head.  Wallace (above) and Michael (left) add the SF Chronicle and Vallejo Times Herald to the lady (no NY Times here!)  It looks like my carved foam with its paper skin will work!
Meanwhile I work on the hands...always hard.


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Papier Mache parts, hung out in the wind to dry.  Shown here:  an arm part and the spikes for the helmet!  The plan is to velcro on the spikes so if they happen to hit something they will velcro off rather than tear or break off...a safety release, as it were.  The work continues tomorrow!

 
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June 18 I spent carving the upper and lower arms.  The material is Styrofoam, rescued from furniture store packing crates, and the tools are band saw, electric carving knive (shown here) and sandpaper. 

 
Update on the giant Lady Liberty that will appear in the 2010 Vallejo July 4 parade, along with the giants from previous years.  
The head has been sculpted by Michael in clay.  Figure 1 below shows the wood, wire and styrafoam armature for the head modeling.  Photos of the original were used to sculpt the head in water based clay (figure 2.)  (Scroll down the blog to an earlier entry for a scale drawing showing the size and scale of the finished puppet.)
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The actual liberty statue has a stern expression, captured here in clay.  She takes "liberty" very seriously!

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After the head was modeled, it was cast in traditional plaster of paris, and the resulting mold was used to make the positive in thermo-plastic mesh.  Parts of the thermo plastic (the skin) are shown here with a layer of papier mache, which will later be painted.  The hair portions will be left as the visible mesh, to give it a hair like texture.  Thanks to Valerie and Jessie Horack for the first papier mache work on June 17!

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For the arms, I am trying a refinement of my giant arms from previous years.  In General Vallejo (2007) and Benicia (2008), the arms were made of scavenged styrafoam (from furniture store packing.)  They were roughly carved and reinforced with a bamboo rod through them, making them strong and very light.  In both the Vallejos' cases, the arms were covered, so they only had to be roughly arm shaped.  With the lady Liberty I am going to try to create a more refined arm shape in styrafoam, and then papier mache the arms where the skin is visible.  Shown is arm number one, the experimental arm, to see how this technique might work.  So far it looks promising.

 
The new, giant Mare joins General Vallejo and Benicia Vallejo in the July 4th parade.
 
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The 2010 Theme is Liberty, and the 4th of July Committee has chosen The Statue of Liberty as the 2010 puppet. Above is a concept drawing showing size (with the 10 foot General Vallejo for scale...each grid line is 1 foot.)