# Edmond's Carousel (abridged)



## Ghoul Friday (Oct 6, 2007)

Thought I would give a version of the carousel on here for future use (after the MacGuyver Contest is over). It's a shortened version of the one I posted on my website. If you want a more indepth version (with more/bigger pictures), check it out here.

I'll post it in sections.










Part 1: The Base

I used a serving dish to trace a circle onto three pieces of cardboard (two for the base, one for the top). The size of this circle will determine the overall dimensions of your carousel (this happens to be 14 inches in diameter). Cut the circles out, putting one to the side for later.

I lined up strips of styrofoam side by side, taped them together with duct tape, and cut the edges to be the same size and shape as the cardboard base. I used two pieces of duct tape on opposite sides of the circles to tape the cardboard closed over the styrofoam like a big oreo cookie.

I had a cheap, plastic Christmas musical figurine that turns when you wind it up. I snapped off the figurines (one had already broken off on its own, so I knew it would be easy).

I put the music box in the centre as a general visual reference for where the middle of the carousel will be.

I plotted out the positioning of the poles (wooden bbq skewers). There are five outside poles and five inside poles.

The outside poles are 7 inches apart from each other. The inside poles are each placed in the midway point (3.5 inches) between a pair of two outside poles. It creates an almost star-like shape.

I pushed the poles through both the cardboard and the styrofoam.










I then placed the cardboard circle for the top of the carousel (that third circle I said to set aside) beneath the base and pressed the sharp end of the wooden skewers into it to make indents. This is mainly to help me out later when I am trying to line up the top of the carousel with the bottom of the carousel.

I am using a pop bottle for the middle of the carousel. I placed the bottle in the centre of the base and traced a circle around it. This is where the bottle will slide through while being attached to the music box beneath.

I did the same tracing on the top cardboard piece, but this time I flipped the bottle over and outlined the neck of the bottle in the middle. You don't want to cut the larger circle for the top piece - only the small outline of the neck.

Cut out the larger circle on the cardboard base right through the styrofoam so you now have a big doughnut.

Slip the bottle through the hole in the base, and test the fit of the top piece over the neck of the bottle. It should be a snug fit when you slide the bottle into the holes.

NOTE: Hold onto one of the circle pieces of cardboard from the base that you cut out. You'll use it later.

I took a sharp knife and cut slices into the bottom of the bottle.

The slices were approximately 1 1/2 to 2 inches long (from the centre, out to the side edge of the bottle, and then up the side a little).

Once I had the slits cut, I sliced off the bulbous parts and bent the pieces of plastic so they were flat like the rim of a top hat.

I unscrewed the top of the music box and set the bottle on top. I cut small pieces of duct tape and used those to tape down the plastic flaps I had created, and wrapped the tape around the edge of the music box top. I had to make sure the tape was as flat as I could get it over the sides and underneath so that it wouldn't interfere with the turning of the music box.

I slid the base over the pop bottle music box I'd created. I then duct taped the base to the bottle and covered it in paper mache.

Let it dry and then paint. I painted swirls of blue (dry brushed with black) and a giant white spiral.

I printed a spiral out in 4 pieces, cut out the centre and tested the size on the base. I then cut the white part of the spiral out and taped the pieces back together again. Filled in the holes of the template with white paint.

On to the top section...


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## Ghoul Friday (Oct 6, 2007)

*The Top Section*

Part 2: The Top

You need the second large cardboard circle (the one that's the same size as the base) and some thin styrofoam. I gently bent the styrofoam along the edge of the cardboard and taped them in place with duct tape.

I snipped the bottom sections of 3 wire hangers off with wire clippers before taping the top sections together. These served as the frame for the tent.

By taping them together, I was able to bend them to fit and have them all be relatively the same shape. Then I snipped the top hook off two of them, and used the third to wrap them all together. Now you can remove the tape.

Once that was done, I began attaching them one at a time (just swing one hanger out from the others) to the frame with duct tape. When you are done, you should have a total of 6 sections for the tent. Be sure to keep it centred, and watch that you're spacing the sections evenly.

I covered the tent in sections with tinfoil, pressing it close along the outline of the hangers (I wanted the shape to show through even after it was covered in mache).

I crumpled paper from the recycling bin and loosely stuffed the inside as I went. This was just to give the tinfoil a little more support during the paper mache process. Later, it also helped to keep the wooden skewers for the poles in place. Speaking of which, if you're using wire or something else for the poles that needs to be attached to the roof, this is the time to do it.

I continued until the entire top was covered, and followed with layers of paper mache over the whole thing.

It was eventually given a base coat of grey latex paint and put aside to dry. I then chose to paint the top black and white with patches of grey and blue.

I bought two plastic pumpkin necklaces at the dollar store and used these as lanterns. I attached them to the underside of the carousel top.










I measured the circumference of the carousel top to figure out the total length of boards I would need. Sized 6 individual sections of card stock paper. I created a basic decorative shape to outline the boards and trimmed off the excess.

For the first one, I only did the right half of the sheet and cut out the shape. This is the template. Next I traced the template onto the right half of a second sheet. I then flipped the template over (to face the opposite direction so everything was reversed), placed it on the left side of the sheet, and traced it once again (mirror image to the right half).

After tracing and cutting out the other 5 boards, I painted them all black. Once they were dry, I took the tiniest amount of white paint and dry brushed a line along the edge of each board. Later, I tidied the edges of the white lines with black paint.

The frames for the facade boards were too big. I folded the frame in half, slipped my scissors into the fold, and snipped it into two pieces. I overlapped the pieces to form the size of frame I wanted, careful also to line up the bumpy outlines. I then snipped through both halves (first on the left side, then on the right) on the diagonal. This created ends that made the two halves fit together seamlessly.

I cut pieces from a sheet of reflective paper, taped the reflective paper to the frame, then glued the frame to the facade board. I repeated this step for 3 boards.

A friend suggested I create cracks in the mirror. I painted the cracks in black, then when they dried, outlined them in silver paint.

For the remaining 3 boards, I used scrapbook cut outs. I dunked my brush into a tiny bit of black paint, then dipped it into water. I continued to add drops of water to the puddle I'd created until it made a wash (basically tinted dirty water). Starting from the top of the image, I ran my brush along the surface, making sure more wash was being soaked up at the top than at the bottom.

I used the same technique to dirty up the mirror frames.

Next up: the figurines


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## Ghoul Friday (Oct 6, 2007)

*The mummy*

Part 3: The Mummy

To make the armature, I took tinfoil and folded it into a rectangle. I drew a basic outline of a body with a marker. Using scissors, I sliced between the legs (so there were two of them) and folded the tinfoil back onto itself (to thicken each leg).

I snipped around the rest of the body, again folding the tinfoil back. I took a wooden bbq skewer and slid it through the middle, bending the shape to test how it will look.

I created arms by rolling another piece of tinfoil, and rounding it in a U shape. I fleshed it out by taping cotton balls to the form.










I covered the body with paper mache, let it dry, and gave it a quick coating of grey-green paint.

I rolled out a small amount of Delight paperclay between a folded piece of wax paper (this prevents it from sticking to the roller and the work surface). I used a blade to slice it into tiny, thin strips.










I carefully removed strips one at a time from the wax paper and started wrapping my mummy with it. You want them to overlap and criss cross in areas, letting little bits of the base show through now and then.

Once it dried, it was time to paint. I used a brown colour to highlight the edges of the bandages and painted the interior of the bandages with a dirty white. Highlights were then added using a pure white.


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## Ghoul Friday (Oct 6, 2007)

*The Mermonster*

_Part 4: The Mermonster_

I simply crumpled tinfoil and covered it with another sheet of tinfoil for the body. For the arms, I rolled a piece of tinfoil and wrapped it around the shoulders of my mermonster. I forced a wooden bbq skewer through the belly of the armature to map out where the pole would be.

For hands, I took some fine wire and cut three lengths. The longest one is the wrist and middle finger. I wrapped the other two around it and covered it in a bit of tape. When I had the fingers bent in a shape close to what I wanted for a final product, I started covering it in paper mache. You have to tear the strips very, very small. It helped to use the tip of a wooden bbq skewer to press the wet strip of paper against the form in order to get the to stick (mainly between the fingers).










I covered the main body of the mermonster with paper mache strips. After it was dry, I taped the wire hands to the mermonster and covered those with mache to bind hand and arm together.

I covered the back end of the body first in a layer of paperclay (when the mache was dry). I used the sharp tip of the skewer to carve the lines for the scales (which are basically a sea of 'U's overlapping each other. They get less distinct as you get closer to the end of the tail). When it was dry, I gave the scales a very light sanding with fine sandpaper.

I used the fat end of the skewer to create craters in his skin and some dimpling.

For the face, I hollowed out the eye sockets first, then shaped ovals for eyeballs.

I wanted his mouth to appear chapped and almost coral-like, so I used the tip of the skewer to create lines around the raised circle of his mouth.

I made a pattern along the sides of his head to hint at gills, but I didn't want to make it look traditional. A simple cluster of divots around the sides of his face were used.

All of this detailing will help me later when I am trying to create depth with paint.

I took the painstaking time to paint the crevices of the tail in dark blue as my base. This was followed by a light green on the surface of the scales. Once I was happy with how the blue was showing through, I began highlighting the scale surfaces with yellows, lighter greens and hints of white.

The craters were painted brown, and patches of the skin were also painted this colour. The brown will lightly show through the main colour of the skin and act as shading of the contours and general texturing.

A lot of dry brushing was done with light yellows and whites to finish the paint job.


































Ok. Will be back after coffee to post the rest.


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## Ghoul Friday (Oct 6, 2007)

*The Reaper (Reaps)*

_Part 5: Reaps_

The Reaper was made up of 6 pieces of cardboard: one for the torso and head; two for the legs (the sides); two for the arms; and one for seat between the legs.

I left extra length on the left and right side of the seat. With a blade, I cut a slit into both leg pieces and slipped these extra lengths of cardboard through to create a chair.

I slit the front of the torso piece and slid the back of the chair into it. I then ran some wire around his back as a guide for the arms (I used tape to hold them in place). I wanted the one arm away from the body so that I could slide his scythe in afterwards.

I bulked up the sides of the Reaper with all the bits of cardboard I had laying around.

I covered him in tinfoil (including from shoulder to shoulder over his hood to make it 3-D) and covered him in paper mache. Once he was dry, he too was covered in thin layers of paperclay (which is how I achieved the fold effect for his hood).










I didn't shape the little fingers for him until the very last minute. I'm such a klutz I was afraid I would break them off while working on it (I ended up breaking his thumb anyway).

The base of the scythe was tinfoil, rolled and folded into shape. Mached, painted, and slipped under his arm.

The finishing touch was taking a scrap piece of reflective paper from the mirrors, cutting it in a circle, and sliding it into his hood.


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## Ghoul Friday (Oct 6, 2007)

*A Horse and an Owl*

Part 6: A Horse and an Owl's Nest

I drew a basic outline for the horse and cut out the form in 5 pieces: the head, the body, and the 4 legs. I used 2 or 3 broken toothpicks to skewer and connect the sections together. The horse was then mached, left to dry, covered in a thin coat of paperclay, sanded and painted. I was hoping for an antique look, so I left cracks and imperfections on his surface.










It was during this part of the project (the nest) when I thought to myself "you are insane".

Take a styrofoam ball. Cut it in half. Hollow out one half and make a hole in the bottom.

I painted it mustard colour and began the experiment. I found the best way to apply the little pieces of straw was to take a piece and force both ends through the styrofoam (you can use wire to make the holes) so they poke out in the middle. Do this 7 or 8 times.

Take the straw (broom bristles) and weave it around the base through the loops you created. Once I had a base, I could weave the straw through other pieces already attached.

I slid the nest over the collection of hangers poking out the top of the tent and used a scrapbook paper owl and perched him inside.


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## Ghoul Friday (Oct 6, 2007)

*Attach the Top*

Part 7: Attach the Top

Attaching the top (at least the way I did it) is pretty straight forward. Remember that little cardboard circle I cut out from the middle of the base? Well after cutting out a circle (big enough to fit over the neck of the pop bottle) WITHIN the cardboard circle, I slipped it over the opening of the bottle. This just buffers the space between the bottle and the top to keep it from wobbling. Following that:


I did a test run with the poles first. I put the skewers in the holes I made way back at the start of all this (weeks prior) in the base.
Lined up the top with the pop bottle centre and the poles. I took time to see if they still lined up, if the poles were straight, and if I needed to make adjustments (which I did).
Took it apart again. Added all the characters on their poles (which I painted silver).
Replaced the top.
Reached beneath the base and carefully pushed the poles deeper into the top.

That's it. I can actually take most of it apart for storage, and I can also unscrew the main part of the music box from the base if I ever want to change the guts or music that plays.










To make it Christmas like (and to show poor Edmond's sad attempt), I made signs and bows, and antlers for the mermonster.


























Here's the slideshow of it for halloween:

[nomedia="http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=1beJ-xuPDg8"]301 Moved Permanently[/nomedia]

(To view the photographs used in the slideshow, please visit this Art Ghoullery album.)

And here is the video of it in action all ready for Christmas:






PHEW. That's a long how to.


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## tonguesandwich (Oct 13, 2006)

That is just to cool!


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## GothicCandle (Mar 26, 2007)

ooo I want to make it! Hope i have the talent!


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## Lauriebeast (Feb 27, 2007)

What a great project and your tutorial was superb. The detailing in this piece is wonderful. Very well done!


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## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

Thanks for the tutorial ghoul, great piece
this is way to cool
I like the little intricacies in it.


how hard does that paperclay stuff get?


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## drazster (Oct 1, 2008)

I'm totally impressed. it's creepy, cooky, detailed and beautiful. Your tree kicks butt too...


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

That is such a creative prop...NICE


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## ithurt (Jun 23, 2008)

fine, go ahead be way more talented than me. see if I care.
very impressive


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## Fiend4Halloween (Aug 28, 2008)

Great tutorial, and prop. Love the music too, it's like I'm watching part of Beetlejuice!!


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## Ghoul Friday (Oct 6, 2007)

Thanks gang  I'm pretty proud of it. Easily the most detail intensive prop I've ever built. 

And thanks for the compliment on the tree, Drazster! That's new this year.


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## Ghoul Friday (Oct 6, 2007)

Lilly said:


> how hard does that paperclay stuff get?


Lilly, this particular one (Delight paperclay) ends up feeling like those paper blocks used in packaging...almost like a paper egg carton. When used on a solid base (like the crumpled tinfoil) it's great: 100% solid and weighs next to nothing. But for things like little fingers, and those strips on the mummy...it's delicate. So, if I dropped the mermonster on the floor, I wouldn't be worried at all. But if I dropped the mummy, there would probably be a casualty.

I did break off one of his strips at one point (when I was fighting with the carousel top), but it glued back on so easily.


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## dave the dead (Jan 31, 2007)

you must have the patience of a saint. The details are fabulous, and even more impressive when the small scale of this is revealed. I really like this prop GF!


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## Ghoul Friday (Oct 6, 2007)

dave the dead said:


> you must have the patience of a saint. The details are fabulous, and even more impressive when the small scale of this is revealed. I really like this prop GF!


Dave, you have no idea. This prop was a lesson (basically a 3 week long lesson) in patience. I can build and paint a large prop in less than half the time it took me to make just one of those tiny figurines.

There were moments when I was ready to crawl out of my skin, and just had to walk away from it. Traditionally, I work fast and messy, so this slow motion prop building experience really tested me. And taught me so much.

I made a paper mache skull today, and the time FLEW by in comparison.


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## ShakeySkellie (Oct 6, 2008)

This is really beautiful. I don't think could ever build one, but at least I can look at yours!


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