The Clown is done!

The Clown is done!

 

 

Yep! This little guy is done. He stands 19 inches for ground to the top of his hat. and 25 inches to the top of the balloons. From the far left of the red balloon to the right far right of his right hand (the one waving) it 20 inches. He is free standing the strins of the ballons are wire and aid in balance. he's painted with latex and sealed with polyurethane.

 

This was my first attempt at this type of sculpture and it was a learn as you go process. it turned into a 35 hour project because of my mistakes, it should have taken less than half that.

 

A Few Things I Learned.

 

1. I used balloons to mold the body, head and balloons. This was a mistake using newpaper and masking tape to make the basic shape works much better and the pieces are not hollow which makes it harded to damage .

2. I used empty paper towel and tp rolls for the arms and legs. I first put them on empty. But when I applied the PM clay they could not support the weight and the legs gave in and the arms fell off. So I stuffed them with paper and taped them into place. And tried again. . this time no problems

3. A water bottle cut in half was used to as a mold for the shoes. I filled the two half with PM clay and after they dried, removed them from the mold, cut away any excess and taped them to the legs. Using PM clay for the shoes also added weight to the base for balance. I didn't have any roblems with the shoes.

4. the balloons as I said were made from ballons this did not work well. One of them collapsed when the balloon lost it's air. I remade it with a wade of newspaper and masking tape. the one made of newpaper was the easiest to attach, the hollow ones kept spinning on the wire making it very hard to stay in one place, enough gule and you can fix anything but the newpaper balloon worked far better than the others and it was easier to make.

5. I used 14 gage wire for the balloon strings. I covered them with newspaper dipped in flour & water this worked out alright but I think I might use coated wire on the next one so I won't have to do anything with the strings.

 

I'll will be making at least one more clown. Just to see if I can do it without all the problems. And I will try to do a better job of posting with pictures of each step. So if you think you might want to try making one check back in. And if you have any suggestions on how to do it better feel free to post your comments I would love to hear them.