Trophy

Inspirational images.

Ordinary old art supplies.

Supplies for the deer head piece (working title, “Trophy”). Foam ulnar to rebuild the back of the deer head (it’s cut out for antler attachment. Mine will be a doe). Mix water and wood glue and cover the styrofoam surface first. Then the can of primer. The Liquid Nails is for glueing the Foamular to itself and the deer. Also the plastic ears and eye onto the deer. The drywall Jab Saw (great name) for cutting the Foamular and SurForm for sculpting the Foamular into a head shape. Once the car paints arrive I can paint the whole thing.

“Trophy” progress. Rebuilding the back of the head (where the antlers would go) so that’s glued on and needs 16 hours to dry. Eyes are taped off and ready to be glued in (after head piece dries) and after the head is sculpted I can attach the ears. Though I may prep them first with a primer coat before applying the spray paint to them. I’m at that stage where it’s a lot of waiting for glue to dry and experimenting with what process will eat the foam least.

Sanded, back of head formed, time to paint a layer of glue on to protect it from the spray primer (according to my test foam this should work!)

Working with the first layer of wood glue. This will act as a barrier when I spray the primer paint on so it doesn’t eat the foam.

Working at the studio today. Adding a layer of wood glue to Butter Dog so he can be my spray paint tester. He’s wet all over so I’m carrying him arose be like a stick of cotton candy. Also, there is a toilet behind me.

Trying the deer with a human eye.

Paint chip.

Paint tests. For the red I liked a layer of Montana magenta, Mystic Autumn, then Blood Red. It’s pretty 80s lipstick, though. Maybe a few more coats of Blood Red or maybe a dark cherry Montana base. I did a gold test on Butter Dog. It beads a little but doesn’t eat into the foam.

You can see the prisma topping a little better here. It’s more glittery on the actual.

And finally I am no longer dragging ass and just going for it with the painting of my Deerhead project, trophy. I chose a darker red base coat and right now it just looks like a skinned dear. So I guess it’s no surprise when one of the patrons of Cask and Larder came over wondering what I was doing. Although he thought I was making a cake.

And here I was thinking it looked more creepy without eyes.

Hey hey! Remember when this deer head was red last week? Well it turns out I’m having some texture issues, and after sanding it down a bit I realized I needed a thicker base layer to start with. So I bought a can of Killz and we shall see how that works after I sand it once it has dried. On the other hand, I’m very proud of myself for thinking of caulk to close up the nose and mouth areas.

Diamond plate aluminum done in acrylic. John says this’ll be ten times easier to cut with his CNC and we can put a board on the back to attach mounting gear to. The diamond plate will be used as the “shield” on many deer heads.

Here’s where we’re at with Trophy. Another layer of Kilz on the left side. I tried dancing it today. The big drops just ripped off. I am trying to get each layer as smooth as possible but I may just have to settle for mostly smooth so k can continue on and finish this before the semester ends.

Back this this later again. Fuggit. I need to finish this piece and move on. Stop thinking every element is precious.

Photo by Jared. The layering goes red> autumn mist> blood red> maybe chromatic. At some point the ears go on with Liquid Nails. Then gold girl stencils> gold> autumn mist> clear top coat on everyone. Done. Oh wait, add the diamond plate shield backing.

The layering goes red> autumn mist> blood red> maybe chromatic. At some point the ears go on with Liquid Nails. Then gold girl stencils> gold> autumn mist> clear top coat on everyone. Done. Oh wait, add the diamond plate shield backing.

I started gluing one ear on, and oh look at all those spots I missed with the red spray paint! And poops I’m out of this color. Oh well, I can always buy some more. I am definitely going to have to caulk the gaps in the ear, so I probably should have attached the ears before painting. I thought getting a few coats down first would be easier because of all the nooks and crannies of the ears would create. Live and learn. I told myself today during my bathroom break that this one doesn’t count. That made me feel more like I could continue on with making progress and not being afraid of messing up. The patrons of the restaurant next-door are starting to drive by with quizzical looks on their faces. One car of gents idled up next to me asking what is that? My answer didn’t seem to cure there confusion much.

Well, what’s happened since I last posted a picture of my piece? The ears would just not stay on. So exhausted I decided to bring the piece home where my hot glue gun was. I applied mostly liquid nails glue with a few sections of the hot glue. The idea was that the hot glue would hold the ears in place while the liquid nails had time to dry. Also I definitely need to buy more red paint.

Alright trother mucker, ears are on and caulked. Time to let them dry and walk to the hardware store to buy more spray paint. I’ve had way to much cider to drive.

I’m just going to finish it and try one of my Halloween wigs at home afterwards. I have a rather long white one, I’m thinking about a blonde one, but the white one will be a good Sarah get for now. So I put another layer of red down and another layer of the mystic autumn, just finishing up the drying so I can put the cherry red down and then I could put the other layers down if there’s time tonight.

People love walking around the corner to odd smells and me in a respirator.

Blood Red. If this deer doesn’t look like I had my period all over it by the time I’m done, I did not succeed. Also, “it’s a girl!” jokes.

BFF

We have a lot of good times together.

Dry you f'ing thing.

Tonight, I am trying to smooth over the back of the head in the base of the ears via papier-mâché. My materials are the Orlando Weekly and Kilz Premium. I will soon run out of the car paint, so this is pretty much my last chance to make this work.

Well, here we are again.

I don’t know how well the picture show this but the blood red kept coming out in splatters. Even after cleaning the head. So now the deer looks like it has arterial sprays. Maybe that adds to the trauma but it just feels like a goddamn excuse. I’m out of blood red and the spray has to be shipped. I’m exhausted. It’s just a lesson. The whole thing. A lesson.

I suppose I will have to stop at some point. One of the suggested questions we should try to answer during our winter review in January is “when do you know if a project is complete?” I still don’t know the answer. But I think I know the answer when a project can never be complete to the satisfaction of carrying the intended message. I call this the Marxism Situation. When even though you go through pre pro, it still looks better on paper.

We’re finally at stage clear coat. I decided I will probably try the side view mirror idea I had initially in the pre pro stages after the new year. I don’t know if that will still carry the feminist aspect, but that’ll help carry the car aspect that could be lost in not being able to smooth the surface out. I will do some surrogates from foil and mirror card stock.

Well, Binky, we gave it a good shot. But I came in today to give you another clear coat and saw you had permanent ghosting. I’m not sure why, maybe I was spraying you when it was too humid, but it looks like it’s the end of our learning experience together. So I suppose I’ll be taking you home, much like one takes the patient home to hospice after there’s nothing else that can be done. May you rest in the comfort for the rest of your life.