SC - Aoife's Bull

[kathe1 at juno.com]

Aoife, you're crazy! And I mean that in the nicest way! I'm saving this
post so the next time anyone tells me I'm nuts for the schedule I try to
keep, I can give them a copy of a "True Fanatic" at work!

Julleran, marvelling at how you keep the kids out of all this while it's
drying. Or do you have little finger prints if you look closely? I know I
would. :-)


On Mon, 19 Jan 1998 17:57:08 -0600 L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt
<liontamr at ptd.net> writes:
>
>------------------------------
>
>> 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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