Splatter/Spray Painting Dilemma...

Today I finished painting the loops that go on the back part of the large structure.  I like the colors in them, and by themselves, I like how they look, but I have two problems with them:  They blend into the background (that can be solved with black outlines, so not that big of a deal) and I'm not especially fond of how they look when paired with the tree tops for the jungle scene.  See below:

The tree tops are all outlined in black.  In the above picture, I was just starting that part.  

The problem is that these loopy things are in two very different scenes, and I can't paint them specifically for either of the two scenes because then they will look oddly out of place in the other scene.  

So I'm trying to decide if i should add additional "spray" paint (I diluted the regular paint about 1 part paint to 4 parts water and sprayed it on with a spray bottle), or if I should do a paint wash over what I have already (but then what about the other scene?) or should I do a paint wash AND more spray, or a light spray in two different patterns?  

Decisions, decisions...

On a more positive note, here are the completely finished Who houses (except if we put a few Who faces in some of the windows)

So, any ideas or opinions?

Seussical Jr. Who-ville Houses

Welcome to Who-ville!  Here are the houses for the Seussical Who-ville scene.  I still have to outline all of them in dark grey.  If we're feeling really ambitious they might each get lights.  But I'm not sure how ambitious we'll be.  After outlining, the train awaits.  See it on the desk, front and center?  Holy crap.


Update:

Here were the finished houses.  















I was pretty happy with how they turned out except... all that effort and they were on stage for like 10 minutes.  But hey, that 10 minutes was totally awesome!  HAHAHAhaha!

Seussical Bathtub

Almost done - just needs a showerhead (my coworker has promised to figure that part out) and claw feet... and since this is Seussical, I was thinking the claw feet should really look like real feet with claws. I don't have the plywood on hand at home, so that's a job for next week.  Not much to tell for this prop.  I started by making a drawing:

And then we put it on the computer and shot the image onto the plywood (using an old overhead projector, I think, but I didn't do this part, so I'm not really sure), then cut it out with a jib saw, wood puttied the large knot holes and sanded it well.  Then I took it home and painted it with about 3 coats of plain white.  I redrew my lines after each coat because they would have been covered after 2 coats.   Then on the 3rd coat, I painted a thick strip of white where I wanted my darkened areas, dabbed on the purple and blue in very thin lines, and then smeared/blended the color into the white.  This worked fairly well, but you have to work FAST.  This is latex paint and it's dry in the house now that the heat is on.  

If I was doing this again, I'd redo the mouth of the bathtub to look more like the black lines in the drawing but hey, I've got loads of projects on my plate.  I'm off to work on the next one.  

Seussian Piano

You know the scoop - we're doing Seussical Jr. this year and I need to make a bunch of Dr. Seuss Style props.  This is the piano.

I found a picture I liked on Pinterest and then I bought 4 sheet of 1/2 inch plywood and 4 8-foot 2x3s.

I had Home Depot cut the plywood exactly in half to make 2 four foot squares and then I used my BRAND NEW jig saw to cut a funky shape out of one of them.  Then I traced that shape on the other one.  Can I digress now and tell you that cutting with a jig saw is kind of like sewing with a sewing machine?  Only with wood?  It is.  Trust me. 

I had my hubby cut the 2x3's for me.  I used 12 inch spacers to separate the front of the piano from the back, and 10 inch pieces for the keyboard.  Each "foot" is 30 inches and each leg (from the keyboard down) is 28 inches.   Here are some pictures:

No one helped me put it together, so I used a chair to hold the plywood up while I drilled holes for the screws. It was a little tedious, but it worked.  

I made a curved line where I wanted to keyboard the screwed in those pieces first. 

 Then I attached the spacers 

I attached the pieces on the bottom with L brackets - really because I should have done that first, and also I didn't have screws that were long enough.

I added the cardboard keyboard, and then the cardboard sides and top.

I duct taped the keyboard down...

... and I duct taped the edges for that cartoon-like look.  More finishing touches soon - going to bed - TIRED!

Here's a picture of the finished piano - I had intentions of adding more details, but I ran out of time.  

Missing the Ocean

Why is it that we never seem to do the things we enjoy that are so easy to do?  We live 20 minutes from the beach.  We really need to go there more often.  

Paper Maché Angel Wings

A few years ago, I decided I wanted to make a pair of angel wings for the wall.  I went onto Pinterest and looked for angel wings to find a pair whose shape and style I liked.  I also found a picture of wings someone made with cardboard.  They were paper machéd.  They were speaking my language!

Then one winter (2 years ago?) we bought a flat screen television, which came in a very large cardboard box.  I have a hard time throwing out large pieces of cardboard.  I decided it would provide the perfect base shapes for my angel wings.  I sketched out a shape on paper and then traced it on the box, then cut them out with a sheetrock knife.  I wanted them to be somewhat life sized.  

My flip flops are in the picture above to give you an idea of how large they are.  

After cutting them out, I dithered for a long time about how to best shape the feathers. I dawdled and dawdled.  I put the small box of cardboard feathers in the basement and forgot about it for a while.  I thought about it every time I passed it while heading for the washing machine.  I promptly forgot about the project as soon as I headed back upstairs.  I killed months this way.  

Then I just decided to get on with it.  Who knows why this happens.  I guess I just decided to stop procrastinating, or I decided that they didn't have to be PERFECT.  Perfection will kill your creativity every time. I plugged in the glue gun and got moving.  

I posted a few pictures on Instagram...

And I ran out of cardboard.  I decided to use a few priority boxes from the post office.  I wanted my cardboard pieces to be all the same thickness so they would be more uniform looking after they were paper machéd.

Before gluing on the final rows of feathers, I attached a wire through the base cardboard to make a loop across the back (see it in the above picture?) to make it every easy to hang them on the wall when complete.

I even loved how they were looking BEFORE they were paper machéd.  I had originally intended to give them to my daughter to hang in her room but when I started them, she said, "IEWWW, no, I don't think I want that in my room."  It was somewhere around this point when she realized that they might turn out ok, and she asked me what color I was going to paint them.  She said, "well, maybe I'll take them for my room..."  HAHA, yes, mom knows best doesn't she?

The paper maché stage was tedious!!  I had the make the paper relatively small, and make sure it was wedged snugly around each feather so that the shape of each feather still stood out.  My only criticism with this whole project is that I started out with one type of paper towel and I finished with a different type.  Up close, the texture of each wing is different. One type of paper towel worked much better for getting into the corners.  I wish I could remember which was which, but you'll have to decide for yourself which type you like better.  I usually use Bounty, but in this case, I think it was the cheaper, thinner less textured brand that worked better. 

One wing almost done...

And above, two wings done.  See the difference in the relief of the feathers? for the one on the left, I wet the paper mache again and pressed it down in the spots where it was too flat.  It worked a bit, but not as well as those other paper towels.  

In the picture above, the wings have been coated front and back with a coat of white acrylic paint.  I didn't want them to be able to absorb too much gold paint when I painted it on in the cracks and crevices, and I thought this would help. I outlined each feather and then gave both wings two coats of  Mod Podge. 

Finally ready to hang!  As you can see by my 4 foot ruler, they're pretty large.  Now I have to find a place for them, since they really should hang together, and my daughter hung up something else in the spot she had for them.  I'll find somewhere.  I love them!  

What do you think?

Seussian Grass

My next prop for Seussical Jr. is a little patch of Seussian grass.  Horton is supposed to sit in the grass and look for the speck of dust that holds the tiny town of Whoville. I thought a circle of grass would be good.  He can sit in the middle and ponder the flowers.

I had my husband cut a few 2x4s into 5 of these shapes.

Then I drilled some holes the ends and attached them together with hinges.  I also put wheels on the bottom of each piece.  I only bought 5 wheels (because I was cheeping out) but it's too wobbly.  I need at least 5 more - really I could use 10 more, but the wheels are about 2.50 each and I don't want to spend 25.00 on wheels.  

Each side of each 2x4 you see above gets a piece of cardboard "grass" attached.  I cut a low piece for the front side of each board, and a tall side for the back of each board.  I may label them, too, so the stage crew is sure to face the correct side to the audience.  I'm going to attach them to the boards after I bring the whole thing to school since I can picture it really flapping around in the bed of the pickup truck.  I'll post another shot when it's all attached and I've added the flowers.

Goodnight, everyone - till next time!