OK, That Took Time....

 But the copper kettle is done! As mentioned before, the shape was  moulded over a small preserving jar, using paper clay. Once dry, it was cut to size and sanded, and then faux painted. The bail handle is made of wire, and is not all that visible when the kettle is placed upside-down over a log to drain, as it will be in the diorama. The "rolled" rim is cotton yarn glued around the edges, and the ears are made of card.

I am very pleased with it; the original clay was stone gray, which was then sealed all over to take the paint without softening the cellulose clay. Once dry, I painted it with a couple of coats of raw sienna paint, and when that was dry it was dry-brushed, using a mini fan brush, with a brass-colour metallic rather than a pinkish-copper metallic paint, followed by a brushing and wiping with antiquing gel. And when that was dry, the whole thing was given a coat of satin varnish. The effect is of a copper kettle that has seen a rough life out in the woods, but is still being used, dents and all, as well as being kept quite clean by the maple sugaring crew.

There are a few more small items to come, but so far I'm happy.

A New Camera, and Some Things to Show

 I'm not a woodcarver, but over the weekend I carved a paddle - complete with (cardboard) reinforcement strip on the back, a pair of wedges and an axe for the maple sugaring diorama. I also began work on the large copper kettle which will rest against a stump in the background of the scene, but took the photos with a new-to-me very fancy camera, and my old camera is unable to "read" the pictures I took.

The new camera is a bit of a learning curve, in that it is very slim, apparently has the ability to work with a higher number of pixels, and does not have a port for a cable - apparently, it is WiFi and we have to figure out how to make that work. The photo I took of the freshly-draped paper clay kettle is currently unavailable, but I did take a photo of the dried and trimmed version with my old camera.

The next step is to seal the inside and outside of the dried paper clay shell, and when that is dry I can faux-finish it to look like worn copper. The inside is unlikely to show in the final project, so I'll use that to test my finishes on. I still have to make the "ears" and the bail handle of the kettle, as well as figure out how to make it look like it has a rolled top. (I used a small preserving jar for the shape.)

Weather permitting, Marilyn and I'll be meeting up tomorrow to work on the scenery; I have some items for that to find/put together as well. Hopefully, there'll be some more photos to show you. If and when I can figure out how to download from the new camera, I'll post a photo of the wet clay draped on its form....

...And, We're Back in Business

 Finally, after a busy holiday season and a lot of weather cancellations, as well as health concerns and the like, we're finally back in business on the Maple Sugaring diorama.

The curved background of the diorama has been constructed, and we are working on the actual landscaping of our scene. The major elements are in palace here, and we are about to start the placement of the various trees.The pink foam will be shaped into shallow slopes, to draw the eye of the viewer from the background to the foreground. Marilyn has taken on the landscaping on this project, and we worked together at her house today to begin that process.

There will be a number of large and small trees, to carry the viewer's eyes into the background, and Marilyn is figuring out placements. The size of the trees will decrease the further they are in the diorama, to create a sense of greater depth than there is.

There are still a few small pieces, my part of it, to create, and we hope we can get this project done in a month or so, ready for what may be an early maple sugaring season here, thanks to el nino's contribution to the weird weather. However, a storm system is expected to appear here tomorrow and the next day, so heaven only knows what will happen. 

The display will be on show near the end of March, if everything falls into the schedule we've envisioned for this project. We're going forward again!