Riveting details

It's not always easy finding ways to let children be a part of what you do...but I've allowed my daughter into my shop since she was very little.  I've taught her to be cautious when necessary and when she can simply have fun. This weekend she asked if she could help with the Rocket Sign project and I readily said "YES!".  I had calculated that the pedestal was going to require about 500 rivets and knew exactly how to involve her in the process.  I know some of you may think "Why doesn't he just have the rivets be a part of the carving and save himself the time?" It's a good question, and one that gets to the heart of what I'm trying to do to give my signs life and make them unique.  If I had the machine carve them, they would be perfect..every time.  That's not what I want!  I want a random, hand made quality to the signs that will loudly declare to whoever sees them that they were touched by a human hand and are the better for it.

The way I make the rivets is to first mix a batch of Magic Sculpt, then create hundreds of little peanut size balls.  This can be done quickly, and then lets me focus my attention on placement of the rivets without having to think about it.  I showed my daughter what size to make the balls and told her to fill several small containers. She had a great time and told me all about a penguin game she's been playing and why it's so great.  In all too short a time, she had made me more than enough rivet-peanuts to complete the job.

Because I sometimes use a lightweight foam product for signs, I have to give it a primer coat, and then a hard shell resin coating for protection.  In this case, all the panels on the pedestal needed a coat, which I gave them.  Once that was dry and hard, I could begin adding the rivets.  I push them into a dome shape and then with a small round tool, I indent them randomly to look hand hammered.

I continue to sculpt the last few sections of moon and this afternoon I'll have it done.  I've learned so much just sculpting craters.  It's fun to look at reference photos and then combine that with my own vision of what kind of details would look good for this moon.  I couldn't help but remember the old "Bob Ross" painting shows that used to be on as I added more and more craters. I imagined Bob saying "A happy little crater lives right over here...it's your sign, let that crater live wherever you want!"

I also started putting on a few last little details on the rocket.  I don't want to give them all away yet, but I thought I'd let you see my use of some "found items" for the landing feet.  CarveWright owners will be able to identify at least part of the assembly.