Playful Penguins Process, part 2 - the finale

And the penguin saga continues! My last post ended with a couple of pics of the penguin mock-up with the straw and glass. The following picture shows my penguin nestled in the middle of the inner tube. I placed it in the inner tube to estimate how I should shape the penguin's wings, shown here as wire mesh covered with some masking tape.

Here's the penguin with it's first layer of Apoxie Sculpt.

And here is my second attempt at the under structure for the inner tube. My first version was getting too big and too heavy, so I started from scratch for the inner tube. This time I used colored plastic wrap wound over a circle shaped wire.

And here my penguin is getting accustomed to the newly constructed inner tube.

Now my penguin and inner tube are covered with a coat of gesso, ready to be painted. I painted the cup and straw first, since I was anxious to try my epoxy resin for the "liquid' in the glass.

And here he is! Lounging the day away on his brightly polka-dotted inner tube!

Ahhhhh.....he's enjoying his day! :-)

My Playful Penguin hopes you are enjoying your day as much as he is enjoying his!

Missed "Playful Penguin Process, part 1"? click here

Buzzing Behind the Scenes, part 2

It's "tea time"! My last blog post featured the beginning stages of my Buster the Bee sculpture. Today, I'm showing how I made Buster's picnic basket and tea set that he's carrying to Toby's shell. Plus, I have a few close-ups of the final wing set for Buster along with a couple of flower shots.

The photo above shows the beginning stages of the picnic basket and tea set. Can you guess, what's what in the photo? The long strip under the teacup is how I made the teacup. I cut it out like that with wire and masking tape and then formed it into the cup with a wire handle shown above. Those two tab things with a hole in each are for the teapot. This is where the wire for the teapot handle will be inserted.

And ta-da! Here's the tea set ready to be painted. It took a long time to get from the first photo to the second. My Dremel tool came in very handy to clean up the surfaces of the tea set, especially for the teacups. I wanted to get the teapot and cups as smooth as I could.

And here's the picnic basket all painted and ready for Buster to fill with all the fixin's for tea time.

And here's the completed tea set and basket. I was very happy with how the teapot, teacups and picnic basket turned out. I wanted the tea set to look like a real little set of cups with matching teapot. I was anxiously awaiting for the time when I could attach the handle to the teapot to finish it off. I also waited in anticipation for the glaze to go on to make it look shiny.

And can you guess what these are? Yes, Buster's wings that took blood, sweat and tears to make. Okay, not quite, but they were one of the most challenging pieces to make.

I could not wait until I could attach this set of wings to Buster, but I had to wait until Buster was all painted before attaching them. And, yes you will have to wait too...until my next post when I feature the finished Buster piece all painted and put together. I had so much fun making this piece and it was challenging and exciting to wait and see how it all came together. Before I end today's post, I'd like to share with you a couple of close-up shots of a couple of flowers from my Buster sculpture.

This little ladybug was visiting one of the coneflowers for the Buster sculpture. It was real late at nite and when I walked into my work room to turn off the lamp and check on my work, here was this lil' beetle walking along the petals. Oh my, could that be the real life Lilly the Ladybug visiting one of Buster's flowers? Needless to say I had to capture this Lilly moment on film, um...digital film.

And here's the inside of one of the Poppy flowers for the piece. I am a fan of Poppy flowers so I had to include some of them on this piece. Well, that's all for now. Keep your eyes open for my next post that will be bursting with colorful flowers and Buster toting his teaset and basket to the party.

Visit my website Lilly Bug Studio, to find out more about Lilly the Ladybug and her friends!