Vintage Halloween Card Swap 2012

Here is my vintage Halloween card swap project for 2012 - I love these swaps. They push me to create, they allow me to obtain very nice artwork that I may not be able to afford otherwise. It is awesome of Patrick Gill of Cre8tor's Touch to host these swaps - not only does he provide his swap project, he also creates several other peices, one for a random pick and one for a best in show poll winner. That is very generous, and Patrick is just awesome for hosting it. I just hope he continues - this is year two for me, and can't wait for Easter for that swap to roll around next. My first card choice was this one - I had totally resigned myself to making this one, had it all laid out in my head - until I checked Patrick's facebook page to find that card had already been chosen! Oops - time for a recheck.

This card caught my eye. Odd. Thats the word that came to mind. Odd. I was immediately attracted to it for this reason - it seemed unusual to me, nothing typical about it. It was going to be very hard to switch gears - I had honestly chosen the cat card because I felt it would be easy to execute - not a lot of little details there, aside from the mouse (and is that a whistle in his mouth??? Never got an answer on that one..) so I felt I could comfortably commit to that card without too much pressure. This one, however, had all those little details and then some.

Well, the best thing to do when you think your in over your head is to take a deep breath and just take the plunge and get ready to tread water. Ready...set...go!!

Amature work started, holes drilled for said armatures. I am always anxious at this stage - once I have a good solid armature Im happy with, I feel like the hard part is over. Im making the cart from balsa wood and some prefabricated wheels i had recently purchased. I have a good idea at this point of how Im going to execute this project, so Im feeling fairly confident.

Foil is used to "flesh" out the armature. I feel like this part is just as much an exercise in sculpting as is the actual clay. Here, Im wrapping the armature in floral tape so the clay will stick to it.

Fast forward and we have paper clay work done - its coming along. Im happy with the goat, the boy not so much. I don't think I properly captured his personality from the card. In the card, he has a jelly bean kinda head with a large chin. It just didn't carry over to the clay. Im not unhappy with the sculpt itself, I just don't think its the same boy ;)

Paint job started - I used acrylic paint over the paper clay, and then antiqued it with a wash of black. I always give myself fits when it comes to this process. Its very hard to take a brush and willingly cover what you just spent hours painting in a layer of what is basically black paint. I know it will wipe off. I know this. It doesn't seem to matter though, I have to fight back that feeling that I may just as well take whatever it is I'm currently working on and throw it out, cause I am NEVER going to get all that black paint off, EVER and its going to be ruined and what was I thinking and why am I doing this and wheres my cloths and ..and...and... And it came out fine. :)

Now Im ready to work on the accessories - the Jack O Lantern bags, and the harness for the goat. I used paper for the bags, with tissue inserts. I sealed them with Triple Thick. I used a felt strip for the goats back harness that I had glued a wire to - it worked out perfect and I am VERY happy with these little Jack O Lantern bags. The goats harness was made from wire cord. I used jewelry pins that I embedded into the cord to connect the harness - I think all in all it came out well. I am happy with the results.

And here is the completed project - reindeer moss glued down, the bottom covered with felt - all complete.