Conversations with a madwoman

All done bar the usual party cleanups. The Man room has been transformed to a chamber of horrors, the reaper has a lovely stained plinth, the beer esky is done, the angel is detailed, the cometary merely awaits assembly and Paggles demands a little bag of mint wafers. *nods*

Now to eat too much, drink too much, and have waay too much fun

( Coffin finished )

( Angel Finished (lowlights and highlights) )

Ok, the base coat is done on the angel, the skulls have been misted to look suitably beat up, and the tombstones (and now skulls) have been waterproofed. AHEAD OF SCHEDULE, GO ME! :D

( Pics? Pics )

NOW I have something to work with!

( The damaged areas from last set of photos )

( The whole shebang (now with arm straps!) )

( And finally, for shits and giggles... )

So. Been at it since 9am (ok, so I did take an hour off for lunch and a couple levels of Cradle of Rome), but I've managed to fix up the angel, cast the last skull, paint the reaper skull (that's a papier mache one I made :D) and get the measurements sorted for the reaper robe. I might even help out with some sanding around the bunghole (and god NO that is not a euphemism) if torasin wants. GO ME.

ok, it looked ok at 4am, but to give you an idea why I was swearing so much...

( pics ahoy )

So. Behind schedule and pissed (also have to clean up the house, and finish breaking down the last of the branches after the garden bin gets emptied this week). After this debacle we said FUCK THAT to mudding the reaper, and since it's poles and a skeleton, decided to wrap it in a robe and be done. Of course black material is an expensive bastard, so I went to lincraft (The one in the city was too far out of torasin's way) and picked up 20m of calico and black dye. Don't go near our laundry sink, it looks like the friggin' black lagoon :P


SO!

Today:
Hit southland, grab more calico and dye
Break tiki-skull from mould
Set next tiki-skull to cure
Dye calico
SLEEP NAO

Tonight (during work):
Last two tombstone names to be done
House reclamation (partial, won't be complete until I've carved up the boxes in the man room for the windows, done it up then moved the props into there for storage)
Cut calico strips for...

Tomorrow:
Rinse and dry reaper material
Pad, repair and (hopefully) finish off angel mud
Finish off last of tiki skull moulds. (And next time I'm making more than one fucking mould)

Wednesday: (Weather change!)
Sew together the robes for the Reaper grunt work done, pending torasin's approval, then will fasten to frame at work tonight.
Fine brush layer of mud on angel
Break down and remove last of branches I cleared out of front yard

Thursday/Friday:
Go to bunnings and buy that outdoor heater we've always wanted.
Sand down the angel for a smoother finish
Finish sewing the reaper robe

This weekend:
Finish off the reaper hands
Paint angel (Detailing left)
Paint tiki skulls
Waterproof angel, skulls and Tombstones
Mow / edge back yard
Cut cardboard to fit over kitchen/laundry windows to cut out light pollution in the courtyard
Line the beer coffin

Aaaaaaand I'm working this weekend. Oh. Joy.

torasin still has to finish sanding, then staining the coffin (and reaper base), and it will take about ten mins / half an hour to line it (depending how much dorking about we do) Thank fuck I have a staple gun.

Then we actually have breathing space.

torasin is going to try and get Friday off as I'm working Thursday night/Friday morning, stuffs will need to be set up and I will need to sleep at some point.

Just wandered out for a morose stare and....



( o.O )

Welp,

Got the body all done and good on the angel, torasin and I did the reaper frame, then settled down for some mudding.

Everything was going rather spiffingly until the burlap decided it was going to fall off in chunks. Again. And again. And again. Mudmix is right, was applying it right, it just didn't want to stick. EVER. Or even worse, it would do up to a certain point, then suddenly decide to go sideways. I hate burlap now. With the fierce hatred of a thousand burning suns.

Smoothed some calico over it (honestly, working with this stuff and calico vs hessian is like papier macheing with newspaper v cardboard) and did get it to stay, but four hours later we out of calico, night had fallen, and eventually I just went FUCK THIS FUCKING ARGHHH 'cos it was 9:45pm and I had work tonight.

Whole thing probably fell apart. Chalk it up to a disaster :(

Oh well...

Mine mine mine *hugs it and petz it and calls it george*

And ours

Got sick of using torasin's all the time :P And dear god, I think I came in my pants when I tore the box open. It's freaking gorgeous

Things left to do:

- Make headband for angel
- Fill angel head with foam
- Final layer and hairstyling on angel
- duct tape double of me for upper body of angel, and chickenwire frame
- Chickenwire frame for Reaper and attach skull
- Make skeletal hands for Reaper (cotton wool and brushable latex 4tw!)
- Texture and paint last of tombstones 99% done, doing last of the detail work on the cross
- Mud and paint Angel
- Stain Reaper plinth
- Finish sanding and stain coffin
- Finish skull motifs on tiki-torches

Make treat baskets
Get fuds for bbqing and snackies (And pepsi max for the diabetics)
Make Jello shots

And we're done!

Angel and Reaper will be done bar painting by the end of this weekend, cross and tombstones will be completed by tonight (as will tiki-torches, depending on how long the foam takes to cure) Coffin should be done sanding by the end of the week, and treat boxes and duct tape double will be made tomorrow night! THEN WE CAN HAVE OUR HOUSE BACK

(Seriously. There's four foot wings, a celtic cross and a full sized skull in the kitchen, Fog machine and glassware in the loungeroom, my office is full of skulls, heads, tombstones, braziers, lanterns, hands, snackie treats and candles, bathroom is full of paintbrushes, sander on the back porch, man room full of crap, garage full of coffin and skeletons and parts....don't look to swing a cat here 'cos it won't work)

Backlog of pics, image heavy

( The Beer Coffin )

( Tombstones )

( Braziers )

( Even got bored and made an extra )




Reaper and angel have their skeletons done, all the prework bar the duct tape body double and skeletal hands, and we're on track to mud them this weekend. Once that's done, we just need to paint them and we're done!

Welp, you all saw the naked paper mache head on the angel.... Been a bit busy since then!

WARNING: Image heavy dialup killer behind the cuts

( The Wings... )

( Angel Face )

And BOY have I shopped. We filled a fuckin' subaru forrester!

But on the other hand, now I can fx the driveway, the letterbox, the fence, cut down some more branches and NOT have to use a handsaw, clean the gutters, fix the gutters over the courtyard, finish the garden down the side of the garage, build a full sized 6ft Weeping Angel, a five foot reaper, make a shitload of skulls, and a coffin beer esky, make my shelving unit, patch the slug-seam on the back porch, paint the braziers, surface the tombstones, make the charnel house walls...and a few other things :D

And as for the Angel...Well I need to get off my arse and attach hair, body and paint, but so far I'm damned pleased with how it's coming

( Decapitated Angel says  )