To hot to paint, so I worked on Eyes

Again, thanks for the comments.  I feel like I have some very wise and honest friends out there on blogger.

It sure has been hot here for the last few days.  Not as hot as L.A., and not even as hot as Santa Cruz or San Jose (on either side of my mountain)  But very hot.

There is a big RV show going on about 50 miles from here in Plesanton that I went to on Friday and would probably have wanted to go to again this week, but it is too HOT!  Can you imagine going in and out of a bunch of RV's in a sunny 100 degree dirt lot!  I may be dreaming, but not that much.

On Sunday I primed, and yesterday I did the first coat of paint on two of the last "hard to get at places."

On top is another one of those little eves. I have been using a foam pad to lie on as I paint so it isn't as hard as it looks.

The other is a  part of  the overhang on the upper deck that is also above a bit of roof. From my 8' step ladder I can reach the back corner if I have my paint brush taped to a length of wood.


It was way to hot to go up and do the second coat this morning, so I just worked for awhile on sealing the exposed beam (above the ladder) with a good coating of Bondo.  The picture is a half way shot.

Then I decided to give up on outside and work on something in the studio.


 Hot weather IS good for one of my processes.  Making the eyes for my sculptures.
The shiny surface they have is a flow on coat of resin  and it always sets up best in hot dry weather.

The first step to making eyes (which I did weeks ago) is to cast numerous half balls out of plaster of Paris. Using hot glue I attach them to little portion cups so that they are easier to handle.  Then I sand and paint them.

The eyes above are being painted, and  the ones in the foreground to the right are all painted and ready for the first coat of resin.

The ones in the back were done a few days ago and are ready for the second coating.

After I paint on the resin, I put them into a lidded box to set.  This protects them from dust in the air.

It usually takes at least 24 hours for them to cure.

In hot weather it goes faster and there is less of a chance of getting dust in the wet resin.


I started doing the eyes this way about ten years ago.  Craig was talking about our going full time and I needed to modify some of my steps so I could do them on the road.  I had been mounting the plaster shapes into each sculpture, painting them, and coating them with resin.  I would put little cups over the wet resin to protect it, but  I would have to protect the whole sculpture for days at a time because I always do several coats of resin.

So thoughts of RVing lead to this improved method.  I now make enough eyes during the summer to last all year, and I can work on them at odd moments.  I can see myself sitting at a picnic table in a nice friendly RV park, sanding and painting eyes!  When safely tucked in their drying box they will fit into the basement quite easily.


Daily countdown:

400 days Or 1 year, 1 month, 5 days  to get the house ready for sale!