The making of a paper mache Dobby, from Harry Potter, and then painting him on to the canvas, AND my mini polymer clay jack o lantern!!

Not the most gorgeous face ever, but definitely one that I fell in love with.  Dobby, the elf from the Harry Potter series.  I actually came up with him because I was applying to be on a design team, whose main focus is adhesives.  An Australian company called Helmar.  I saw their design team call and knew that I wanted to be a part of the team.  It only just closed so at the time of typing this I have no idea if I am.  Maybe, maybe not.  At least I tried, and for that I am really happy.

I use adhesives in absolutely everything that I do, but they aren't the main focus, just an important element.  So I set myself a challenge to make glue the hero.  I think I did quite well.

I had a completely ruined Harry Potter book, so I ripped 😮 out some good pages that I could find, and I covered the whole canvas in glue.

I then added all the pages to the canvas, in a variety of directions.  Ensuring that the edges of the canvas were covered too.

Now came the hard bit.  Once it was dry I had to get the outline of Dobby onto the pages.  I used an 8b pencil and it did a great job.  To get the outline I found a picture online of Dobby that I liked, then I printed it out at the appropriate size for the canvas, and I traced it onto the canvas.

I then went over the edges in a raw umber outline, just to ensure that I didn't lose the lines while I was making the paper mache part.

Using glue I slowly layered up Dobby's nose and forehead, as they are the most prominent on him.  I ripped paper into small bits, glued them onto Dobby, making sure they didn't go over the outline.  I thoroughly covered each piece of paper in glue, before and after putting it onto the canvas.  I was honestly flying by the seat of my pants here.  I had no idea where I was going with this, and I was scared of how it was looking.  I persevered.  I am glad I did.

I kept building up his nose and his forehead, and then began to build up the tip of his ear and his lips.  I didn't want them too big, just enough to make the canvas seem lifelike.  I kept ripping and gluing until I was happy with the height.  The tip of the nose has to be higher and more rounded than the rest of the nose and forehead.

Kind of looking a little worrying at this stage, hehe.  I covered his face in unbleached titanium, and I wanted to make his lips and the end of his nose a little pink, so I added a speck of Alizarin Crimson to the unbleached titanium.

Ahhhh, beginning to look a little better, thank gosh.  I just kept building up the layers of unbleached titanium and the crimson at this point.  I wasn't worrying about the details of his wrinkles or lips.  I just wanted to get some paint on him to see how he was going to turn out.

I just kept my eye on the picture of Dobby that I printed and I worked from that.  His eyes are a mixture of sap green, light green and cadmium yellow.  His eyes seem to radiate in his pictures so I tried to capture that glow.  His whole face was differing mixtures of unbleached titanium, alizarin crimson and raw umber.  I then used Titanium White for the high lights and reflections.







I am really proud of how he turned out.  I loved the opportunity to dabble in mixed media.  Hopefully I continue to do more of these types of projects.

 The glue I used was Dina Wakley ultra thick gel medium.  I purchased this product a while ago from my favourite art shop here in Hervey Bay, Art & Soul Studio.  It was less than $12 and went a long way.
https://artandsoulstudio.com.au/

I am yet to varnish it, but when I do it will be Liquitex Gloss Varnish in a super large bottle that I love oh so much.  I am going to try the Super Glossy Varnish from Liquitex next.  I just love the finish it gives.

That is my glue inspired project I did on a whim.  Take a chance I say.  Follow your instincts, try it.  There's no real failures, just lessons learnt.



















On to my next piece, a miniature polymer clay Jack o lantern that I put on top of a battery tea candle light.  I love it.  It took me a few attempts, as usual, to get it the way I like it and to figure out the best way to do it.

This is the next YouTube Tutorial, it will be up in a day or two.  The month of September is dedicated to Halloween!!  So bring on all the spooky and scary things.

So happy with the way the jack o lantern turned out.  I saw the battery tea lights and I thought yep, I need to do it.

Here is the link for my Youtube Channel.......MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL!!

Please like, comment and subscribe!

Please follow me on facebook........... KristinaObrienart
I am also on Instagram.......... https://www.instagram.com/kristina_obrien_art/
Aaaand Pinterest....... https://www.pinterest.com.au/krystalrose316/pins/
And now on Etsy.........  https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/KrystalRoseCreations?ref=seller-platform-mcnav
And now Youtube.......https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpgFuUdFo0dyREOhcSgXBrw

Until next time.........