April 2004 Archive

Saturday, April 24, 2004

Sunday, April 18, 2004

Guerilla Flotilla
Erik sent me an intriguing invitation a couple months ago about a flotilla scheduled on the Chicago River. I knew I didn't have the prowess to make an actual boat, and I had never been to flotilla before to know what to expect. For the longest time I was stumped about what my contribution should be.

I had questioned Erik a little about it, but thought I should come up with something snazzy without grilling him.

On April 7th, the day I couldn't stop thinking, I sat with a blank index card and a pen on the bus. I thought, "Ship hat" and drew a ship hat.

There you go. So, I built a ship hat out of paper mache. The base is gatorboard (a plastic version of corrugated cardboard), covered in good old newspaper and flour paste. I painted it with acrylic and a coat of outdoor modge podge. I put black and white pics of me making faces in the portholes. The smoke is gatorboard covered with two pieces of quilt batting. Much hot glue and packing tape was used in the construction.

And for anyone interested, the paper mache paste was white flour, white glue and water. I threw in about a 1 1/2 of flour, a 7.625 oz bottle of Elmers and enough water to make a paste heavier than cream in consistency. I had enough for 2.5 layers and plenty left over. Worked great. Only lesson was that when I painted it, the paper mache separated in biggish bubbles away from the plastic base. Not a huge deal in this case. I just used the gatorboard since I had it on hand, and I thought it'd be stronger than cardboard. If you're looking for a smoother surface, use cardboard, so the layers will bond better to the structure.

Since the finished ship was so vertical, it was a bit wobbly - I had finishing school posture when I wore it and couldn't nod so well. But folks enjoyed it and I'm glad I made something boat-y to get involved.

Word is, there hasn't been a flotilla in 5 years, 7? So, this was the first in awhile and the turnout was relatively small. There were two boats, one remote control beaver and a floating dragon sculpture. Hopefully, these will become annual again and regain momentum.



Here's Erik's boat. Erik is the gondalier, Pirate Rob is riding. It's made from old Neo-Futurarium theater seats. Brilliant. It sailed well, but I was especially impressed that it was modular and came apart so smartly. Those three rings of theater seats bolt onto the two hulls. [I think that's the word. The shiny, floaty parts. How's that? For growing up on boats in Minnesota, I know jack about 'em. Ergo, I made a hat.] So it's basically 5 chunks.

Seeing how swift the disassembly and smart the design, fully impressed, I asked Erik, "How'd you get so smart?

He answered, "Trial and error."

Wednesday, April 07, 2004