myself! She is starting to look REAL NiiCE!!
So the next step is to put a final layer of glue on after doing all those layers - and let it dry. This will make it a bit more firm and give it a smoother finish when trying to paint it later on.
Cut off all the excess material left from the shape. You should only be able to see the paper mache bust form.
Next was to do the neck:
We used a body form that we got from an online shop. This body form is only one sided, meaning it is hollow and cut off at the back. It is not 3D. So we just cut it off at the shoulders (see the black lines)
We then sawed the actual neck bit (see the red lines) so that I could fit a round, circular tin in to make the neck 3d (round).
I used an Illy coffee tin to create the illusion of the neck. This was good because the lid comes off and its hollow inside. I needed to use something that I could make the neck look chopped off, ie I needed to fill the tin to create that illusion. (See the pictures later)
The illy coffee tin was the perfect size and it fit perfectly into the cut out neck. I threw the lid of the tin into our recycling bin, as I wouldn't be needing it.
I covered the tin entirely with duct tape and attached it to the rest of the body with duct tape.
Once this was done, i started to paper maiche again until it was completely covered..
I let my bust form dry infront of the fire in our lounge - it dried very quickly, which meant I was able to get a move on with the painting :)
I went and bought acrylic craft paint in white and red.
I then used the plastic that the body form came in and stuffed it into the tin. I made it look rough and pulled the plastic out to make points. (This would give it the "chopped off" look)
After doing this, i grabbed my Red Acrylic paint which I had bought earlier and I started painting the plastic.
SO MUCH FUN!!
I then let the red paint dry again and started to paint the rest of my bust with white acrylic paint.
I painted it quite rough, because keeping in mind, I want it to look like Marie Antoinette is rotting a little... niice?! I think not! hehe
I used paint which we had at home, watercolours, to get the whole zombie effect look. I used Green and blue and grey paint.
Its best to play around with the colours and test it - until you get the colour you like best.
I gave it two layers of colour... the greenish layer and then a grey layer.
I also decided not to do it completely in solid colour, but rather to have it a bit patchy. Gives it effect, I think?!
For some detail in the neck, I went with Nicole's whole vertebra idea and used an old bubble container from my best friend's wedding. [we had two of these, so thought we would use one ;) ]
I painted it completely white and let it dry.
I poured some glue into the "cut off neck" which is the red plastic and then placed the bubbles bottle upside down into this.
Placed it infront of the fire once again to let it dry.Once this was done, I painted the neck surround red and painted some red going down the neck, to make it look like blood.
I decided not to waste paint and paint the whole body - as it was only the neck part that was going to be seen in the dress...
