11 Apr
Starting to add facial details like building up the shape for eyes and nose is what I’ll talk about now. Before I added paper to “flesh out” the neck of the deer, I had put some recycled wood cross pieces in the head to widen the base. Part of the reason for this was to provide an anchor place for the eye(s). Now that I’m adding eyes, the base puts them in approximately the right place.
Cross piece for eye mounting
I had to cut a bit off the top to get the angle right, then I drilled a hole in the cross piece for a wooden dowel, glued that in, then did the same on a wooden half-sphere I had lying around. When I say “lying around”, I mean it. My wife kinda gets ticked off because I have so much “stuff” I collect for parts. The sphere piece was in a bag of random wooden shapes I bought quite awhile ago, on sale at a craft store for a couple bucks. You never know when stuff is going to come in handy! I base coated the sphere black and glued it in place.
Base coated “hemisphere” in place
Later, I can build the structure around the “eye” that will be the brow and cheek of the deer on this side. Right now, I want to add thickness and substance to the “real” antler. Once I do that, I’ll be able to finish smoothing out the “skin” on the rest of the head and neck.
Adding substance to the “real” antler
More substance…
And more substance…
Wrapping it up
Now, I just wrapped the antler with more masking tape to secure the paper and smooth it out a bit. I need to add shape and definition to the face and nose too, but I’ll save that for next time…
Keep your eyes peeled!