Working on and in the shop

I have been doing some serious work on the inside of my shop. I have run electricity, insulated, walled and I am now putting in a ceiling. I lreally like my new digs. I have a woodshop on one side with my duplicarver, drill press, bandsaw and jig and table saw. On the other side I have a finishing area where I paint, add mechanics and seal. I have my sewing machine and cutting board hooked on to the wall so they fold up out of the way and I have been adding storage and finish shelves every week.

I finished sanding the little guys head that I bought from ebay. I put a coat of paint on him to find the rough areas. I will fill them with paper clay. Paper clay doesn't adhere well to most surfaces but it tends to grip to paper mache real well. Anyone wanting to make a paper mache head should take that into consideration. Once you have the general shape made from paper mache, you can use paper clay to finish his face.

I am also in the middle of furthering my education. I have been taking Bill Nelson's sculpting course. Although it has only been three weeks, I have learned more in his sessions than I have reading sculpting instructions from a book. Bill is thorough and simplifies his procedures in step by step format. Anyone wanting to learn how to sculpt or better yourself should consider taking this course. It's worth every penny.

A side note. I never criticize anyones work. Everyone has the potential to make a good figure. I always tell everyone when I see them doing good work. The only thing that bothers me is the copycat. One thing I always try to do, is make my figures a little different by adding something no one else has and coming up with new ideas. Everyone should do that so their figures are unique to them.

Here are pictures of the inside of the paper mache head. I have alot of eworking of mechanics as you can well see. I'll work on him some more next weekend. As always, If anyone needs help in figure making or has a question about ventriloquism, I answer any and all questions. If I don't have the answer, I will point you in the right direction to get it. You can email me at gepttosworkshop@yahoo.com Have a great week and HAPPY VENTING!

A lonely guy from ebay.

I have recently purchased a figure on ebay that was made by someone back in the early seventies. It was made of paper mache and covered with a resin to harden it.

I opened the back of his head to do some repairs and his head was almost an inch and a half thick.

His eyes need to be repaired and I am going to add raising and lowering eyebrows to him. He's cute and looks like alot of love was put into building him. It was this womans first try and i think she did a great job! I'm working on sanding down his face because he is pretty bumpy and I will attach his original hair and eyebrows when he is done.

His body is large for his size so I am going to shorten his torso and narrow his shoulders as well as shorten his legs. I will use all his original parts to do this because he was well built.

When he is finished.... I am going to keep him!