sugarplumkitty | Progress is being made

Update:

1. Create Black Widow Spider head mask.
- a. Design shape - DONE
- b. Create shape - DONE
- c. Cover wire mesh with plaster cast fabric - DONE
- d. Get 8 eyes - plain black, glossy, half-orbs - DONE
- e. Smooth spider head with paper-mâché - DONE (took until midnight after class)
- f. Paint spider head.
- g. Get black jersey fabric for bottom edge so it doesn't snag my costume.
- h. Add ballast to back of head for balance.

2. Finish fly head
- a. put hair on it. - DONE
- b. Paint features. - DONE
- c. Figure out how to secure it in fly body.
- d. Get black ribbon to suspend the fly from my neck since it's too heavy to attach to my costume, now.

Class was frustrating last night. The lab didn't go smoothly and took way too long to get to the point of no progress for everyone. I usually fly through the labs and leave at 7:30 when the lecture ends. Not this time. I was there until nearly 9:00.

Then doing the paper-mâché took longer than I thought it would, too. Man, I was exhausted! I'm doing cleanup tonight. Hopefully, the few dabs that stuck to the kitchen floor that I didn't notice last night will come up easily. It took major scrubbing to get the stuff off my hands.

I'm wishing now I'd thought more about weight balance and put the jaws folded up against the face. They're outstretched a bit and that makes the thing very heavy on the front side. I'm pleased with the details I put on right at the end. The eyes didn't show up very well when they were smoothly blended into the top of the head. After adding rough edges to the "joints" of the jaws, I dedided to do a mini-version of that around each eye. I like how it looks. :)

Interestingly, the paper-mâché I used turned lavender when I got it damp. The whole mask is now lavender. It has to dry 1 to 2 days. Yikes! Sun will cure it faster. I might ask Eric to help me carry it into the back yard to be in the sun. This morning is the first this week that didn't dawn foggy. Geez, I hope the mask gets lighter when it dries! The paper-mâché was nearly weightless in the bags. It's quite heavy now. Eeep! I might pick up padding to go under the black jersey fabric so it will rest easily on my shoulders.

For balancing the head, I'm thinking a Ziploc bag of clean kitty litter casted in might work. I still have casting material left over. Sand would probably be more dense for the weight but I have clean kitty litter. I don't have clean sand, nor do I have time to run to the beach.

2. c. Must wait until I find out how much room the electronics will take up. Eric's first attempt with purchased sound recorder/playback electronics isn't working. It must be defective. :( He's now thinking of picking up a tiny MP3 player use instead and attach a tiny speaker. I'll have the MP3 player inside my chiffon web so I can easily control it and the speaker wire will be attached to the black ribbon suspending the fly. If all else fails, I'll just do the voice myself, live. I'm thinking of getting a porcelin drill bit to drill a hole through the neck of the head to wire it into place. I may have to shorten it if the electronics take up too much space. I have a hack saw.

So glad I didn't sign up for the pumpkin carving contest! I just don't have time! I still have to locate my spiderweb costume. I know it's in one of the other closets but they're barracaded shut. I'll try moving my stuff in the computer room first. Otherwise I'll have to get Eric to move many boxes full of CD's he's collected over the years. Being pack rats is a real bother. I wish we'd stop it. Wish we could.