Tags
alebrije, crafts, creativity, inspiration, papier maché, papir, playdate, sculpture
I’ve been asked to begin blogging again, but all the fiber stuff has been dormant (I put up some old handspun for sale and then forgot to tell anybody…) as I’ve focused on painting, which isn’t our usual focus here, so I’ve been reluctant to share. Today however I’ll tell you about another rabbit hole I fell into.
I joined an online school/community here in DK that feature a lot of different classes, and this month is something I never thought I’d be interested in: sculpture. More specifically the technique for making Mexican mythical beasts “alebrijes“. But the course was so well presented that I found myself rearing to go and full of ideas. Too many ideas in fact, that after just a couple of days into the project I’m beginning to wonder what to do with them when they’re done – I can’t imagine dusting off 20-30 figurines around the house, not to mention picking them off the floor constantly when the rowdy bunch have been through. (aka cats) Seems a shame to just fill up the hay loft with boxes, don’t you think?
The process is very simple, like something you might do in elementary school, except you begin with a wire frame/skeleton instead of using pulp. This adds stability, and I hope durability too. It’s a bit like going back to 3D computer graphics as well, where you also coat a mesh like these with a virtual surface.
I ran into a migraine weekend the second day, so instead of making one sculpture from start to finish I’ve decided to make a bunch of frames, then begin adding the paper-maché, since the glue is made from flour and goes bad after a few days. I’m also experimenting wildly with balance, because a challenge only makes it more fun, right?
The theme of the course is A: begin with a sphere, and B: “does it fly?” I’ve been taking the title quite seriously but focus on the “?”, such as a bull with tiny little wings and goats with propellers…. There’s also a turtle with balloons on the drawing board – they just keep lining up for my attention.
I’ve been wanting to get figures into my paintings, so I’n curious whether these sculptures will be a way in for more stories rather than just abstract or empty landscapes, as it often happens for me with cross polination between different crafts.
Hopefully by next week I can show you the coated figures, then I will paint them all together. Possibly there will be art yarn tails included, or is that a bit twee, what do you think?
Sculptures by Else Frøsig, teacher of the class
