Cardboard ear cut out

As you can see, I had to cut the cardboard so that when folded and taped, it has a curve and dimension to it, as you can see below.

Taped together

I then covered the whole thing with tape to seal and waterproof it before applying papier-mâché.

Covered with tape to waterproof

And now, I close the bottom and fit it with a wooden knob, drilled to accept a screw. This will allow it to be attached to the side of the deer head sculpture.

Taped to shape

Added wooden knob

And now…covered in mache…

Covered in mache

And now, the attachment to the deer head sculpture…

Ear attached to deer head

Next, I’ll show how I pulled together random repurposed, recycled pieces and parts to assemble the cyborg ear for the steampunk deer head sculpture. It’s really fun to reuse those things that otherwise get thrown in the trash!

Thank you for your continued interest in my work and stay tuned for my next post!

Forming mouth & nostrils

Now the taped mouth and nostrils.

Taped nostrils

Taped nostrils

Then we start to add the mâché over the top…

Mâché over the mouth and nostrils

Mâché over nostrils

Next time, I’ll start building onto the deer head. Ears, steampunk accessories, etc.

Fleshing out the face

The nose still hasn’t been defined yet, but that is a surface detail I’ll add later. I just wanted to get the thickness added and then I go over it with masking tape. I do this for a couple reasons. First, it secures everything in place instantly. Second, it sort of water/moisture proofs the paper below for when I add mâché over the top in the next step. I used to feel guilty about using masking tape. I guess I felt some sort of need to be a purist and masking tape seemed like cheating. Well, I got over that once I realized the benefits of using it and it also dawned on me that masking tape IS paper, only it already has adhesive on it…DUH!

As I added tape to cover the form, I continued to add detail to the antler…

Taping the antler

As I add tape to the face and neck, it’s also time to put definition around the eye in the form of eyelids.

Masking tape eyelids

Eyelid close-up

Now we begin to add the papier-mâché over the masking tape, including the antler.

Beginning the mâché process

As you can see, the left side of the steampunk deer head sculpture does not have an eye. This is because this will be the side that has the steampunk cyborg “appliance” for an eye. It will also have a cyborg ear and other hardware.

Another thing you will notice from the picture above is the white tub with the paint brush on top. This container has a 50-50 blend of water and white PVA glue. Again, I’m not a purist…or at least I try not to be. Art is about improvisation and innovation as much as anything else. I’ve always found the typical flour/water or wallpaper paste recipes for papier-mâché “glue” to be messy, lumpy, cumbersome and slow to dry. Instead, I use the glue mixture, brush it on, lay down a newspaper strip and brush on more glue to smooth things out. It’s fast, less messy and it dries a lot faster than flour paste. It costs a little more, but it’s way WORTH IT!!

Papier-mâché around the eye

Next time, I’ll show how I added the details of the nostrils and mouth. Hope you stay tuned for that…and while you’re at it, please share this blog with your friends, on Pinterest and like my Facebook page!

Cross piece for eye mounting

I had to cut a bit off the top to get the angle right, then I drilled a hole in the cross piece for a wooden dowel, glued that in, then did the same on a wooden half-sphere I had lying around. When I say “lying around”, I mean it. My wife kinda gets ticked off because I have so much “stuff” I collect for parts. The sphere piece was in a bag of random wooden shapes I bought quite awhile ago, on sale at a craft store for a couple bucks. You never know when stuff is going to come in handy! I base coated the sphere black and glued it in place.

Base coated “hemisphere” in place

Later, I can build the structure around the “eye” that will be the brow and cheek of the deer on this side. Right now, I want to add thickness and substance to the “real” antler. Once I do that, I’ll be able to finish smoothing out the “skin” on the rest of the head and neck.

Adding substance to the “real” antler

More substance…

And more substance…

Wrapping it up

Now, I just wrapped the antler with more masking tape to secure the paper and smooth it out a bit. I need to add shape and definition to the face and nose too, but I’ll save that for next time…

Keep your eyes peeled!

Adding “flesh” to the deer head

More layering….

A more smoothed out look

Once I had the basic shape I wanted, I decided to spray the “copper” antler so I didn’t have to be careful with where the paint went. I knew I’d be covering the newspaper later.

Copper sprayed antler

The “real” antler will wait until I start adding the actual mâché to the deer head. But for next time, I’ll add detail to the face and that will include providing a base for the eyes, both “real” and cyborg…

Don’t miss it!

The natural side would be made of papier-mâché, but would need an armature. Looking around my junk pile, I found an old rusty drill bit extender that I bent into the right shape and glued it into a drilled out hole in the deer head armature.

Bent drill bit extender as armature

From here, I added another piece of metal rod I found, then bent into shape, and used the tightening nut on the drill bit extender to affix it.

More length added and bent into shape

Then, I found an old leaf rake head and removed a couple metal tines and bent them around the rods and Gorilla glued them in place as the armature for spikehorns on the antler. Great way to upcycle and repurpose some old junk!

Rake tines as spikehorns

For the pipe side, I began by drilling a hole in the wooden armature that was large enough to accomodate a threaded PVC coupler and glued and screwed in in place.

PVC coupler as anchor for pipe antler

Now the rest of the antler can be cut, shaped and glued into place.

The whole rack, ready for detailing

Next time, I’ll show how I began adding the thickness of the flesh to the deer head and how I made provisions for the eyes. Stay tuned!

Some folks don’t like hunting, others don’t mind the idea but don’t have the time or experience. Whatever your position on wildlife conservation or protein food source, the image of a mounted animal head is iconic. But what if you like the look, but can’t get a mount or don’t hunt? And further, what if you’re a steampunk fan and the idea of applying that aesthetic to wildlife appeals to you?

Well, I have your answer. Steampunk Whitetail Deer!

I got the idea while talking to a lady who owns a store that sells products made in Michigan. I had showed her some things that I had done, but she thought I should do something that would appeal to someone from here. A deer came to mind as a piece of amazing paper mache art, then the idea of creating a steampunk cyborg deer popped into my head, and I was off and running…

I started by researching size and shape, since I had not actual mount to look at and measure. Based on my findings, I did a full sized sketch.

Original sketch to scale

I knew I’d have to do a mount plaque and I’d also need a piece of sheeting for the “base” of the animal itself that would be a cross section shape of its neck. I also needed to create a way to temporarily mount that base to a stand to work from. Below is the shape and mechanism I came up with.

Base design

From here, I started cutting pieces of scrap pallet wood to rough out the shape of the neck and head of the deer. I love to use repurposed and recycled materials for my work as you know! I made sure to add a little action to the pose by putting a curve in the neck.

The assembly of the armature

Next time, I’ll start to add dimension to the armature and figure out the antlers. Don’t go away!

I apologize that for this step, I don’t have a lot of photos, but I’ll describe the process. I painted the outside of the drawer with black latex paint (just to avoid the fumes of enamel), then I made a wash using a 50/50 blend of white glue and water tinted with some metallic copper acrylic paint. I brushed that wash onto the black and then used a rubber woodgrain rocker to create an exaggerated metallic woodgrain.

Detail of drawer

Different view

Inside, I lined the drawer with scrap light blue paper and added cut paper clouds in white and gray scrap paper, stilted to look dimensional.

Paper clouds in 3D

I also made a “pole” that would stick out from the middle of the background so the airship attaches there and appears to “float”. Then I needed to make the ground under the airship, so I cut pieces of scrap paper again in colors that look like farmland from a height.

“Farmland” cut from scrap paper

The scrap was then spraymounted to a piece of dark green matte board as a backer and also to provide enough strength to be mounted on an angle. This piece was then put into the diarama and looks as it should to simulate an aerial view.

Mounted “farmland”

With the pieces all in place, we have a nice steampunk airship diarama! This could have a hinged plexiglass cover attached to protect the piece, but still allow the airship to be removed for closer inspection (I designed it to come out of the display).

Finished piece

This piece is for sale here on the site in the Showcase Gallery. You know you want it!

Next, I’ll show a new project that will have all you steampunk hunters drooling…stay tuned!

Plastic scoops as gondola

Here’s a close up of the bowsprit and the front of the gondola.

Bowsprit closeup

I glued the two scoops to a plastic disc for some visual interest, then added a flat plastic piece in between the handles, (not pictured), then I created a rudder fin to go on the stern of the gondola. I used the same technique as I did for the stabilizer fins.

Rudder fin

The final gondola was then given an antiquing of patina color where appropriate (brass and copper areas), and attached to the airship body. This attachment required a careful snipping of the paper airship skin so the handles of the scoops could be inserted and glued.

Finished gondola

Here’s a closeup of the attachment.

Closeup of gondola

Next post, I’ll show how I prepared the “box” part of the diarama. That is certainly an example of recycle, reuse and repurpose! Thank you for your continued interest in my work…

How would you have built the gondola?

Index stock fins cut out

I then had to make the ribs, and to make it simple, yet appealing, I decided to cut these out of a similar stock, but in this case, since they would be painted anyway, I decided to use cereal box cardboard and then paint them to contrast and have interest. Remember, I throw nothing away that may have a raw materials use when reused, repurposed or recycled!

Fin ribs cut from cereal box cardboard

I painted them by spraying a basic green enamel. I did this because a water-based paint would have been repelled by the coating on the cereal box. I then antiqued a patina on with a lighter water-based green acrylic, then applied to the fins.

Finished fins

After finishing the fins, I glued them at top and lower angled positions to the airship body with standard white glue and let them dry. To add another element of interest, I used dimensional paint to “dot” copper rivets on the fin ribs. I forgot to mention that I had done this to the propeller scaffolding as well. (How many of you noticed that?) So here’s the finished attachment…

Attached fins

Next time, I’ll show the process of building the gondola. It’ll be fun too, because it isn’t your run-of-the-mill boat shape!

Stay tuned…in fact, tell all your ‘punk friends to subscribe!