After a few moldy days of damp and no sun, we're back to sunny California, where it's 74 degrees in March.  The arch, nicely dried, was ready for some detail painting.

Fake beadwork mimics lapis and coral beads, with some tiles along the bottom. Hit the cats with a little lighter color to make them stand out more. Onward and awkward!

One Thing To Do With A Cat Skull: A Paper Mache and Cellulose Clay Joint

This project came about for no apparent reason. The cat skull came from my buddy's back 40, a bare lot used as a killing ground for coyotes. There were also rabbit skulls back there. The cat skull has been knocking around here for ages.

Until my new printer arrived. It had some interesting styrofoam packing bits like this one:

I really liked this piece. It's several inches thick, but symmetrical and intriguing. I thought the cat skull would look nice displayed in the center circle. And I thought that this could be a nice little cat memorial, Egyptian style.

First I enclosed the styro with a shell of paper mache. Then I used some Skratch paper or cellulose clay to create bas relief Bastets.

Once the cats were dry, I puttied over the paper mache with a slurry of cellulose clay, which gives it a rough, hand carved out of sandstone sort of appearance. The past few days have been overcast and damp, which puts the arch in the waiting room. Fortunately or not, there were peripheral elements that needed attending.  For example, the Shocka.

This baked polymer clay is the mount for the cat skull. Two in the palate and one in the foramen holds it in place without glue. The ring holds the display rod, which will fit into a socket at the bottom of the circle.

This actually worked out as expected, to my mild surprise. So I moved on to the two columns I plan to install on either side of the piece, to give a sense of depth, like you could slip in behind one and disappear into another room of mystery. Also I had these Dole fruit juice bottle caps I wanted to use as a lotus-style capital to the columns, because for some reason that's what they look like.

The ancient Egyptians loved to decorate anything that didn't move too fast. I figured I could fake up some beadwork with the clay, and also include a few polymer clay beads in faux gold:

The "beadwork" will trim the arch, and also the base of the whole piece. They liked coral, bright aqua, dark blue Lapis Lazuli and gold. So do I.

I am at the stage where I'm almost done with the basic structure. I still need to putty over one side of the arch piece and install the mounts for the skull and the columns. Oh yeah, and I have to make another column. Did I mention the King Tut crown I'm making for the skull?

Hopefully it'll look something like this.

After I finish the fake beadwork, I'll do a little texture painting to pick out the bas relief cats and then I will seal the whole thing with satin acrylic spray. There will be a small, rough dish holding an electric tea light candle. That is going to really bring the whole piece to life. Stay tuned!