most recent snapshot 9-21-11
This photo does not even include half of him, I focused on the face and crown.
He's haunting my bedroom right now, waiting patiently for me to continue with my work.
I'll add more information about his developments including his lit crown, eyes, and toothed mouth, incense burner, some hidden suprises, new controls! Since he's become electrified, he powers and charges all of the tools I use while I'm working on him which is a great help, and wait till you see what I have in store!
This is my current ongoing project is a giant idol of the ancient chinese ruler of Hell 'Yen Lo Wang' He is made of a very diverse group of different materials, ultimately covered in two full layers of paper mache, primer and finally paint. Here's a quick peek at some of his parts before they were covered up with paper.
After I created the head and torso with styrofoam, cardboard and plastic, I had to add the legs and base. This is a VERY cursory way to explain the beginning constuction of him, considering that just to do that I was on the project for weeks. I used two five foot pvc pipes (4in dia) and bracketed them to two shiplap boards. Very recently as of August 11 I strengthened those shiplap boards with a large wooded spool-top which I set onto strong wheels to allow me to move him much easier. HE HAS BECOME MUCH HEAVIER WITH LATEST DEVELOPMENTS, DESPITE MY ONGOING BATTLE TO KEEP HIM LIGHT FROM THE VERY BEGINNING. (He has moving parts/controls/pullstrings ect.)
Just imagine the suit of armor that might be able to take a swipe at you in a mansion's hallway in a creepy movie.
I cut the holes in the bottom of the torso and fit the legs in, where they ran all the way up through the chest until the shoulders actually rested atop the two pipes on the inside. These pipes more than doubled the weight of the whole project. Here's a shot of the project with the pipe-legs before I built the boots and kneepads.
With even more plastic, styrofoam, cardboard, and a hell of alot of paper mache (enough to cover the entire project completely twice over), Yen-Lo-Wang was finally ready to prime. I used eight cans of white primer to get him ready to paint. (! yikes ! each can was like four bucks right there)
Painting this guy has taken longer than everything I've done thus far. I've already hunted down and searched everywhere for ideas and clippits of chinese borders and patterns that are fitting for the statue.
Here is the completed front. The front part of him has a spot for inserting coins, so he's actually kind of a piggy bank / wishing well
- HE'S ELECTRIC!
I'm not kidding.
