Art Post - The Country Bears Jamboree

Hello there

Now, we are all painfully and tediously aware that I have a weird obsession with the Haunted Mansion ride at Disney Parks, and have patiently sat through me banging on about it and making stuff like the tombstones.

However, we have never discussed my second favourite attraction at Disney Parks (or maybe the third after Soarin').

This would be the Country Bear Jamboree, which might seem very much off brand for me.  It's basically a musical animatronic show, where - predictably - a load of bears do a country music concert. It's another 'legacy' attraction at Disney Parks which has been around for decades now.  

There's parts of it that are dated, but this brings with it a joyous nostalgia feel, coupled with a very comforting aesthetic.  The attraction is housed in "Grizzly Hall", which has an adorable log cabin tone and is decorated throughout with vintage signs and pictures as though this place has stood for all time. 

There it is, and today we are going to be focussing on the billboards on the front two pillars.  Which you can barely (bearly) see in the picture, so they deserve to be reproduced.  

Let's do that...

This is my first time using Monster Clay, which is an industry moulding clay. 

It differs from other clays or Sculpey, in that it isn't designed to be fired or hardened.   It is basically for making a template to then cast from, and can be re-used.  It arrives pretty hard, and has to be slowly melted to liquid. Then, as it cools, it becomes soft enough to easily get down all your basic shapes.  As it cools completely, it re-hardens to it's original consistency, and is pretty near perfect to sculpt.

It also comes in a tray that can go straight into a slow cooker for ease, but you need a slow cooker that will fit it.  Which I evidently don't have, so I sacrificed the slow cooker to now be bespoke for this.  It was proper cheap, so no tears over that.

I also made a paper template for the frame and taped it to the work surface to work on.

Then it was a case of building up the shapes and honing them (to the best of my - very limited - sculpting abilities)

Once again, as with most things I build, the finished piece will have a surface that can forgive any lesser abilities I have, as it's rough and ready by design. 

I'm gonna say I am 80% happy with that.  And held a bit of confidence that a good paint job would further disguise any problems...

On to casting from it...

I started to build a plasticine wall around the inner and outer perimeters. Ran out of plasticine, quick trip to Hobbycraft where they only had one pack of blue plasticine left, finished it off.

Then I poured in the first lot of silicone, which is the slow setting one to get into all the crevices and slowly take shape.

Seven hours later, and after adding another two layers of quick setting silicone, I got the mould off and returned the original piece to the slow cooker for the future.

That was a very alien experience, to spend so long on a piece of work and then destroy it because it's purpose was served.  It was weirdly liberating at the same time though, similar to when I occasionally scribble out a picture that is going wrong.

As this is a more flexible and bigger mould that the one I made for the Haunted Mansion singing busts, I made a jacket for the silicone in order to keep its shape during the moulding process.  This was done with Plaster of Paris bandages, the same sort they use when you break your arm or leg.

It was one of those things that you never know you wanted a go of, until you are actually doing it.  Dust aside (and there was a lot), it's a really enjoyable process to play Doctor, cutting the strips and moulding them onto the piece. 

I left that to dry over night...

There we have the finished jacket, and then I could pop the mould inside, and add the resin.  Gave it a couple of hours to make sure it was nice and robust, and then extricated it.  

Came out an absolute treat.  

I am going to get unbearable with making silicone moulds of everything now...

After a careful sanding of some of the rougher edges, I sprayed it all with primer ready to paint.

As you can see, I also sprayed up the Singing Busts I cast, and when I was doing that I promised myself that I would also make a Country Bears/Haunted Mansion crossover pic at some point.  I think those busts, in that frame, with the possible addition of the stretching room wallpaper, would be fabulous.

I jigsawed a back plate from MDF to fasten this all together securely and it was on to the painting...

As this sign is going to be indoors I decided to make the wood a little darker than the signs at the attraction itself.  I've seen pics of those signs where they are as dark as I've done it, and I've a feeling they have become lighter over time from being baked in the Florida sun.  I've still two-toned it with light and dark, but weighted it in the favour of dark wood.

Mixed some two-part epoxy glue to get it together properly tight and here we go;

Another piece that I'm genuinely delighted with.  From having the idea to actually doing it was 48 hours, and I think that's a good way to work for me.  Also think these are going to be added onto the Etsy store at some stage, which will then provide me with all manner of stresses about them breaking in the post and putting me ultimately out of pocket.

Really like it though.  This was going to be a video, but goodness I'm now glad I didn't.  The initial sculpting alone would have seen off all my memory cards...

Hope you have had an amazing start to the week, and are keeping all safe and sound.

Much love 

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