Vermont Open Studios & The Flood of 2011

Here is 48 Franklin Street in Barre, Vermont, the home of Sans Souci Studios, with its cheerful yellow "Vermont Crafts Council Open Studio" sign greeting visitors in the front yard. Our visitors were down a wee bit from last year and here's why.

On Thursday, May 26, I went to my "day job" (which usually I do at night) as an on-call residential counselor for young adults with mental health and substance abuse issues. It was starting to thunder and lightning when I drove a group to an acupuncture session in Montpelier, and while I waited in the car, half inch hail began to fall. I drove the group back through torrential rain and when I got back to work, was told that a tornado had passed within a few miles of the facility. One of my coworkers asked if I wanted to stay until the rain subsided a bit, but I wanted to get home in time for my daughter's storytime. We were, after all, reading Harry Potter! The water on the roads was like nothing I had ever seen before, but I made it home safely.

On Friday, May 27, the last day before Open Studios, I woke up to learn that my daughter's school had been cancelled and to find three inches of water in the basement. This made me very crabby. Of course I had left all sorts of Open Studio tasks to the last minute, and I really didn't want to spend my day entertaining Isabelle and bailing the basement out in addition. Then I went online to check the news. I discovered that something like five inches of rain had fallen in two hours the night before. All but two roads in and out of Barre had been closed due to flooding, and several had washed away. Several hundred people had been evacuated from their homes during the night. Property damage would eventually amount to 6 million dollars, with around half a dozen homes being condemned and 70 to 80 percent of the trailers at a local trailer park rendered uninhabitable. Suddenly I didn't feel quite so crabby anymore.

Below, downtown Barre as the flooding began, and beneath that, route 302 just outside of Barre early the next day. (Times-Argus pictures.) Half of one lane of 302 ultimately washed away.





Open Studios looming or not, I had to take a break to walk downtown and see what had happened myself. Below, a tractor clears mud from the intersection of route 302 and 14, while a vactor suctions out a storm sewer.



Below, the National Guard directing traffic around a flooded area, with dust blowing in the background. I was really struck by the dust- when all that mud dried, it turned into dust and blew away, so that Barre was a perpetual sandstorm for the next several days.



Below, a car stuck in a sinkhole in downtown Barre. (Times-Argus picture.)



The week after Open Studios I had the insatiable desire to see the damage to roads I drove on routinely, so I would park my car at the "Road Closed" sign and walk to the washed out area to take pictures. Below is Muddy Brook Road, partially repaired, where I often drove to take Isabelle to school. If you look closely you can see a section of yellow-striped pavement turned perpendicularly to the rest of the road by the force of the water.



Below, a picture of Muddy Brook Road I found online (not sure who took it) taken the morning after the flood.



The road most relevant to me, however, was route 14 between Barre and East Montpelier, as this is the way I drive to work, and the way I had come home the night of the flood. After parking my car at the "Road Closed" sign and walking a loooong way in the heat, this was my first sight of the damage.



I got closer so I could begin to see the culvert the workmen were replacing.



And then when I got closer still, I could appreciate that this hole, even though the workmen had been dumping truckloads of dirt in it nonstop for a week, was still deep enough to fit my entire house.



OK, ladies and gentlemen, the moral of this story is, never drive in water running over the road in a flood. You can't tell how deep it is or even if the road is still there under the water. I got lucky, and I feel more than just a little queasy thinking about quicky the road washed out after I'd driven over it. Below, pics of route 14 right after the flood. (First pic from an unknown web source, the second from the Times-Argus.)





So, until next time, stay safe and well!

Almost There

The deer mask is almost there! Here it is in its current state. As you can see, the mask has more detail and a smoother surface texture than it did in the previous post. I made lips, eyelids, wrinkles, etc with a layer of Paperclay, and filled smaller irregularities with a layer of Polyfilla. Both of these materials sand beautifully, and the Paperclay can be carved, albiet gently, with Dremel alumium oxide grinding stones, on a low speed.

Below, the mask with initial applications of Paperclay and Polyfilla.



Below, with eyebrows and other details sculpted in, and antlers removed. Due to the complexity of their shape, the antlers need to be removable and replaceable for both moldmaking and casting.



At this point, I decided I didn't like the ears, and started resculpting them. I wanted the base of the ear to be longer and thicker, the tips to be thinner and more refined, and the openings to be further away from the head.

Below, the antlers in their newly removable state, attached with screws. You can see the scorch marks from the Dremel from when I cut them off initially. The ears are also more refined.



Next step, to get the antlers on straight and even again! Somehow the antler on the right side has sagged noticeably in this process, sigh.



Good thing I get so much moral support from studio assistant Ezzy.

Deer Antlers, Part 2

Here's the deer mask back in June. I felt pleased and thought all I needed to do was smooth and refine the antlers a little.

Ha, ha.



While I worked on bunny masks and looked at the deer mask just sitting on my workbench for the next several months, I realized the distance from the center of the mask to the tip of one antler was almost twice as far as to the other. Some asymmetry in deer antlers is to be expected, but not this much. Not cool.



So I cut the antler between the innermost and the three outermost tines and rotated the whole thing out a little. Not surprisingly, while the tip of the antler is more properly positioned, the tines are now tilted too far back. I stapled wads of tinfoil to the antler to use as an armature for new improved tines.





Then I took a photo of the mask, which I printed out and folded in half to check the relative positions of the two antlers to each other. The bottom edge of the left hand antler obviously need work, but otherwise, so far, so good.

Then I covered the new tines with Celluclay, cut off the old ones, and refined the rest of the antler a little bit.



I got rid of the lump on the underside of the left hand antler and...





OMG! How could I not have noticed before that the tip of the right ear is at least a half an inch higher than the left ear?? So I carved the bottom edge of the antler up a little...



... and brought up the edge of the left ear.



And here's where we are for the moment.

But wait, look, the second outermost tine on the right hand antler is about an inch longer than its conterpart on the left.... AAAGGGGHHHH!!!!

SPA "Celebrate!" Member Show 2010

Once again I will have several masks on exhibit at the annual Studio Place Arts' "Celebrate!" members show in Barre, Vermont. The show runs from November 17th through December 31st, the opening reception being held on Saturday, November 20th from 4 t0 6 PM. There will be birthday cake as this is SPA's tenth anniversary! I'm planning on bringing a 2 1/2# shrimp ring myself, but if you want any you'd better get there early or I'll eat it all myself!





The White Rabbit mask above will be one of the masks I'll have at SPA. The White Rabbit has been keeping me busy for this entire year with commissions and such, who would have guessed rabbits would be so popular? It probably has something to do with Johnny Depp and that new Alice in Wonderland movie (haven't seen it yet). Friends also tell me that steampunk is all the rage now, so costumes that have a vaguely Victorian flavor are in vogue. Especially rabbits in waistcoats, apparently.



Studio Place Arts is a community center for the visual arts that has operated in Central Vermont for the past ten years. Located in a building that was once considered a "blight spot" in downtown Barre and nearly torn down, SPA now houses numerous artists' studios, holds eclectic art exhibitions and offers a wide range of arts and crafts classes to the community. For hours and more information, please visit http://www.studioplacearts.com./

Hope to see you there!

OMG! It's the KILLER FROG!!!!!

Killer Frog is a local legend. He was a Christmas gift to Isabelle from her great aunt Margie, a beautiful enameled rhinestone-studded frog-shaped jewelry box that developed an insatiable appetite for Playmobil people. He was also the inspiration for my husband Brian's Halloween costume this year.

It was interesting to turn a noob loose in my studio and see what they would do with my methods. As can be seen below, Brian first sculpted a frog mask sketch on the miniature armature, and then the actual mask sculpture on the life-sized armature.



Being the devoted spouse that I am, I positive-cast and assembled the mask for Brian, and he painted and finished it. Here he is modelling it wearing his very appropriate "Get Green" painting shirt. You can tell from the fangs that he's Killer Frog and not, say, Toad from The Wind in the Willows or Toad or LeFrog from Flushed Away.



And in other news, we've had some personnel changes here at Sans Souci Studios. Here is our new kitten and administrative assistant, Ezzy, whom we adopted for Isabelle's birthday at the local animal shelter. As you can see he's already getting into the swing of things.



And on a more solemn note, our own black Halloween kitty, Skimble, shown sitting with Isabelle below, passed away suddenly but peacefully in a favorite sunny spot a week ago. She had been a stray with many old injuries, and I guess her body was just too worn and tired out to go on anymore. She is badly missed.

Positive Casting a Rabbit Mask with Celluclay

Usually I make masks by negative casting, that is, casting *inside* of a mold. But since I've been getting requests for rabbit masks faster than I can have a mold made, I've been making them by positive casting, ie, casting them *outside* of a form, in this case the original plasticene sculpture. Here's more about this method.

First, I liberally apply Vaseline to the sculpture as a release agent. Then I mix Celluclay (a kind of commerial paper mache pulp) and roll it out into approximately 1/8" thick sheets between two pieces of wax paper. These I put into the freezer for 8 minutes to make them less sticky and easier to work with, and then I peel the wax paper off and apply the sheets over my sculpture. I blend the edges of the sheets together and smooth out any major lumps, but otherwise I don't fuss too much over the texture. It's much easier to deal with after the Celluclay is dry.

The cast will need to be cut into pieces in order to remove it from the original sculpture. After I apply all the Celluclay, I make score marks along the parting lines with a clay tool. Otherwise, the Celluclay would be very difficult to cut apart when it is dry.

Then I set the mask in front of a fan to dry. Usually after an hour or two the Celluclay will start to feel leathery and I'll be able to add a little more detail back in with a wooden clay tool. After a day or two it is usually dry enough to remove from the sculpture.

Here's the beginnings of the cast, with the score lines pressed in:



Here's the cast with one of the pieces removed and the original sculpture showing underneath:



Here's all three pieces removed from the sculpture, ready for assembly:



At this point speed is of the essence. I reassemble the pieces as quickly as possible, as if I leave them for any time they will warp out of shape and not fit together well. I make holes along the edges of the pieces, lining them up with each other on either side of the seams. If the pieces are still a little damp I can make the holes with a bamboo skewer, if they've dried more thoroughly I'll need to use a drill.

Then I tie the pieces together using twist ties (I save these compulsively) and apply glue all along the seams:





I dry the cast on a wig stand or stuff it with wadded up newspaper to help it keep its shape. Then I fill in the seams and any thin spots with more Celluclay and let it dry again.

After I've gotten a sturdy shell on which to build, I begin to add texture and refine detail, both by adding back on with wet Celluclay or by carving with a Dremel. Here's the rabbit mask with the beginnings of hair texture, created by adding a thin layer of wet Celluclay and working it with a wooden clay tool:



Here's the mask hairier and more refined. The brown marks around the eyes are scorch marks from the Dremel.



Hairier and more refined still:



Then painted and finished! The Celluclay will need to be sealed before it is painted, as it will absorb humidity and warp like a son of a gun otherwise. I brush on a layer, inside and out, of slightly diluted Weldbond (a kind of waterproof PVA glue) to do this.



As you can see, in a positive cast, much of the original sculpture's surface detail (hair, wrinkles, etc) is lost and needs to be added back in. How much detail is lost depends on the material used- a lot with Celluclay, but less with leather and other types of paper mache. In a negative cast, surface detail is preserved by the mold. This is the major reason why I use molds to reproduce most of my masks. However the fur texture on this mask is fun to create by hand, and I play with the original rabbit sculpture a little every time I make a new positive cast, mostly tweaking its fit. Positive casting also allows me to go more quickly from an original sculpture to a wearable mask, since there isn't the intermediary step of having the mold made. Plus, it's always good to have more than one tool in the tool box!

Summer 2010: The Battle of the Basement

Who would guess that beneath the idyllic exterior of Sans Souci Studios would lie these scenes of horror?







This is my basement. The table in the third pic is my workbench. The cobwebs and white powder all over the table is paper mache dust from my dremelling. This mess has not been cleaned for nearly THREE YEARS. This, needless to say, was one of my major projects this summer.

There was one major obstacle and one major incentive to cleaning the basement. Here's the obstacle:



This is the electric bamboo bike my husband has been building. It lives next to my workbench, and its parts are often scattered among my tools. I would need to pick them up in order to clean my workbench. In a fit of wifely pique I have not touched them, and in a state of husbandly obliviousness the spouse hasn't either. This stalemate lasted for two years. (For more about hubby's bike building adventures, visit idledad.blogspot.com)

Here's the incentive:



This is Skimble, who as a stray suffered severe abuse. She has a huge bald scar on her back from where kids poured boiling oil on her, and she has an inoperable smashed hip, presumably from being kicked or hit by a car. The long and the short of that is, her rear end hurts her all the time. She associates her litter box with pain and does not like to use it. Either that or she just has a bad attitude. In any case, when I cleaned the basement I found she had peed on 1) rope 2) sponges 3) work gloves 4) insulation scraps 5) packing peanuts 6) cardboard boxes and (drumroll please) 7) the snow shovels. One major incentive for cleaning the basement was a much better smelling work environment!

I did make one major materials-related discovery- paper mache dust, like cat urine, glows purple under black light. So, unless the spots were also still damp and smelly, I couldn't be entirely sure if they just needed sweeping or blasting with Nature's Miracle. I wound up washing the entire floor. I figured after three years, it wouldn't hurt anyway.