SC - Aoife's Bull

[L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt]

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> Gee... Sugar paste makes great "concrete" and pillars!  Roll out some
> slabs, let them dry, fasten together and paint on it with food paste
> colors so it looks just the way the columns would have...  And you can
> break them after serving them!
>
>Alys-Katherine 

ARGH! Too late! I only have 4 days, during which I have to go to work, and
also care for 3 unruly young'uns with colds (and one grumpy old man but
that's another story...). No time left for major construction. Drat! Can I
count on some personal instruction some time in the future?  I seem to be
getting insane with this soteltie thing lately. Somebody stop me!

If anyone cares to, they may view the originals, which I modelled the Bull
after, at:

asmar.uchicago.edu/OI/HIGH/OIM_A24065_72dpi.html
or
www.nelson-atkins.org/collections/ancient/detail/capital.htm
or
www.hartford-hwp.com/image_archive/achaemenid/carving03.gif  

As the original bulls from the 100-columned Persepolis Throne Hall were most
likely painted, I am choosing to interpret the looped bead-work on the
statues as colorful types of (?????what is that word?) that horses wear, in
mid-east style, and am making a felt table-runner type thingy to cover from
the center forehead to below the tail (which will handily disguise the trap
door on it's way). I wish I had time to embroider it, but I'm awful at that,
so I am relying on gaudy gems, etc. on black felt. Read on to find out why I
needed a trap door:

The bull, wearing his last coat of paint, is now finished and looking quite
spiffy. I used glass globules for eyes and put a scrap of gold cloth
underneath. I made him out of paper mache', modelled on a chicken-wire form,
and molded eye-sockets with heavy brows around the 'eyes'. The frame was
made from 12" chicken wire: 2 pieces side-by-side for the body, about 3'
around (not closed on the bottom since he is laying down). These were tied
together with twine. The head was a 4 or so foot piece, rolled into a U
shape and the top third bent down upon itself to make the neck and head.
This was also attached with baling twine. A piece of twine running from the
back of the head to the center of the back held it steady until the paper
mache dried enough to give it independent strength. A piece of wire mesh was
used down the front and back. The legs were molded out of tubes of mesh,
folded upon themselves, and the join where they attached to the body clipped
open and attached to the body to form the thighs. The whole frame was twined
together for stability and then pressed into a more natural shape. I then
clipped the trap door and twined the top of it to the body. Last, a small
piece of mesh formed the tail, twined to the body. i know none of this is
really edible, but a great many Sotelties weren't edible, being made of
linnen, paper, brass, lead, wood, glass, wire, etc.....

To add the mache: boil a very thin paste of flour and water (a thick,
unboiled paste works but spoils quickly). You can add glue or oil of
wintergreen (preservative) but I did not. I attached large sheets of
newsprint at first, to cover. This took two weeks to dry in the garage, so I
brought him inside, where he dried in a few hours. I then applied 2 more
coats of paper mache in strips. Next came a good coat of spackle (2 cans of
ready mix)applied with the fingers, which was left fairly rough for texture.
A coat of black spray paint was put on for primer. My husband preferred this
look, but I put on a coat of faux "granite" paint, and I really like the way
it's shaping up.

Now, about the tricky bits, which I have yet to complete:
Borrowing from Master Dyfan's Stag that Bled red wine, I am making a similar
contraption myself, based on his instructions---it's a gravity feed through
a small piece of siphon hose, blocked by the arrow stump acting as a cork at
the chest. A wine bag from wine-in-a-box on a pedestal (yes, bleck! but it's
a sturdy bag, and red) is the blood, attached to the other end of the siphon
hose. It resides inside the chest area. Are you grossed out yet? There's
more. My bull has a trap door. I have made 5 dozen crinkle-surfaced,
center-moist, lumpy chocolate cookies to simulate Bull-Dookey. They will be
delivered as soon as someone lifts up of the tail, because i installed a
slanted tray inside the rear of the bull----gravity feed again. And before
anyone cringes at the symbolism, I am trying to demostrate that even with
the most horrible of political stuff going on in the group, even the worst
BS we can produce is, well, worth it. Besides, I want to see my brother the
Baron-elect's face when I offer him a plate of bull-pucks!

You're all sworn to secrecy, tho. I can't keep a secret to save my life, so
you folks are in charge of my secret now. I don't care who knows.....just
nobody tell Tigranes!

Aoife---wishing she'd thought of incorporating a pillar in the design now,
like one of the originals has.

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