I've Been Silent - But Not Idle!

Wow – what a year!

Remember how I mentioned before that I was moving? Oh wait – I didn’t?

Yes, around the time my sister got married, and my father became seriously ill, my family was also preparing to move. And not just to a different house – to an entirely different city!

However, amidst all the sorting and purging/packing of every item I own, I did manage to sneak in some CJ time. But only enough to either work on the sculpt OR update this blog – not both. Guess what won in the end?

So even though the last time you saw CJ he looked roughly like this:

The last time I saw him he looked like this:

Right down to his cute little Prawn-toes!

Actually that’s a bit of a fib. Last time I saw CJ he looked more like this:

All chopped up and packed in a big Rubbermaid box… :(

Poor CJ!

That’s STILL a bit of a fib since I DID manage to liberate CJ from said Rubbermaid box, (he survived with only minor injuries) in the space in my aunt & uncle’s basement that they are graciously allowing me to use as a workshop.

However right after I did that I went back to my hometown to help shoot a short film…

… and promptly tripped on set and broke my right wrist.

*headdesk*

( Yeah, yeah, Angry!Wikus I know. Trust me - I WISH I were making this up)

In fact, I broke said wrist SO badly it needed surgery. I now have The Right Cast Of Doom and although I’m getting by pretty well I’ve found I can’t do anything, like writing or drawing, that takes any sort of fine precision (so sculpting is pretty much out too :P ).

So for the next week or two while I wait to get this cast off I’ll be getting stuff caught up with the blog here (I did have some very cool fun adventures in addition to the frustrating work-stopping ones ;P) and then we’ll be all set to face a new round of Prawn puppet building!

That's A Wrap!

Yes, time to get back to the actual sculpting! Poor CJ – have you been cold without a nice layer of clay to keep you warm? ;)
(Hmm – and they never did hint in the film whether the Prawns were endothermic or exothermic. Although given how active they were I would assume they were warm-blooded….)

Anyways - I was rather amused to notice that up to this point (or I guess I should say up to the point I stopped sculpting before, I had actually used very few of the large and rather rag-tag collection of sculpting tools I have). Here’s a shot of the main ones so far (with the exception of a few rakes, and my rolling pin).

Pretty basic no? The most complex is the set of proportional calipers to the left (I LOVE my calipers!). Depending on where I insert the screw that holds them together I can set them at a 1:1, 1:1.5, 1:2, 1:3, or 1:4 ratio which comes in VERY handy indeed.

The first layer in place on the torso!

You’ll notice I went back and wrapped wire around CJ's limbs. I don’t know whether it made any difference the first time around but I would have hated to have left it off, gotten into the sculpting, and then discovered I had to do the arms and legs over again because the clay kept shifting on the surface of the pipes.

This is also the point where I was nearly Poisoned-By-Prawnling.

I believe I mentioned before that I use a hairdryer held in place in a vise-top worktable to warm my clay like so?

Well up to this point I’d been turning the hairdryer on in short bursts to soften the clay, but not leaving it on a long time. The clay I’m using is a soft grade, and fairly malleable even at a low temperature. However on this day I was finding it really hard to roll out the clay, probably because the temperature had finally dropped outside to something resembling what you would expect for Canada around New Year’s (ie. FOOKIN’ COLD). My workshop is in our unfinished basement, so although everything was well above freezing it was still pretty chilly in there. As a result I had the hairdryer on, warming the clay, for pretty much the entire time I was in the shop.

I noticed at the end of my hour/hour and a bit session (roughly the length of a single audiobook CD) that I was feeling a bit woozy. In fact I had a downright nasty headache that lasted a good hour after I’d left my workshop. The only thing that occurred to me that might have caused it was the smell of the softening clay (although it is supposed to be non-toxic, and it is standard practice for sculptors to warm/soften oil-based clays with heat). I hadn’t had this problem before though so I think it was a result of having the heat on much longer than usual.

I thanked my stars it wasn’t a more serious safety screw-up than that, and resolved to stick to short bursts of heat and/or leaving the back door open for ventilation.

For these first few layers, while I roughed in the shape, I rolled out the slabs like so (the first pic are smaller pieces cut for the hands but it gives you the general idea), then wrapped them around the area I wished to cover and trimmed them if necessary before blending down the edges.

And after a LOT of rolling, and trimming, and blending – the first layer is complete!

(Notice the OPEN door, as well as the re-attached Prawnling feet)

And that IS a wrap! We are now officially caught up to where I left the project before leaving for my three-week trip to Europe. If this entry has posted successfully then I should be home any day now, high on the thrill of my adventures, and ready to get back to the task of bringing this little Prawnling to life!

Hopefully you’ve enjoyed the ride so far – I hope you stick around!

Cheers!

Kate