From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Mathieu_Ren=E9?= <creaturiste-AT-primus.ca> To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org> Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:37:19 -0400 Subject: [Puptcrit] Monster Bone: Newfound property Yesterday I was washing a brush that had partially dried, full of the Monster bone finish (Joint compound and PVA glue, in my case: Weldbond). It washed really well, no residue. Which got me to thinking: what if the final dried product is re-soluble? Sudden moment of worry: would some of my puppets or masks be in danger of losing their finish? So I went testing. Wonderful! My paper mache items with the Monster Bone finish are well protected against water, since I add washes and washes of acrylic paint atop it anyways, and some of them have extra protection because they have an absorbed shoe polish finish (applied when hot, remelted on the surface, brushed until uniform and well penetrated). Suddenly, it dawned on me: this property of re-solubility becomes a great finishing technique! So I went to my current project, the Giant Skull Mask, and tried smoothing the talking skeleton walking stick that goes with it (pics coming soon). It was unpainted and ready for sanding. I just brushed some water on it, and with a little rubbing, the finish gets smooth pretty quick. It also works by rubbing with my fingers, with some water. The feel and look of it is similar to when you are smoothing plaster when it's freshly applied, firm but still scrtacheable with fingernails. The wet-smoothed monster bone looks really good, and the effect can be controlled, because it does not "melt" very quickly. When dry again, it is still the same perfect matteness I'm used to, and there is no cracking. I used to try to smooth the Monster Bone finish while it was wet, with fingers and water, but had stopped doing it because it produced cracks upon drying. Now I can smooth, without the dusts of sandpaper, the dried product, without any risk of cracks. I'll still use sandpaper, but less so. This method with water will work less when you have more glue than compound into your mix. I suspect that this wet-smoothing would also work with the origin of Monster Bone: the original haunting recipe called Monster Mud (joint compound and latex wall paint), popularized by The Terror Syndicate. _______________________________________________ List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit Archives: http://www.driftline.org
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