Commisioned Life Sized Grizzly Sculpture

[F.C.]

Been in bed since noon after this morning's trip to the ER. Got some pain meds for her plus antibiotics. She's tak'n tomorrow off from work, too. She's got sick leave coming to her. I stay pretty much outside in the shop all day so's to give her peace and quiet. Any chores need'n done around the house I'll do those for her first thing in the am... after I deal with them damn chigg'ns. Them little shits seem to either be lay'n their eggs out in the brush as we've let them wander about aimlessly feed'n on insects and grains, or they've decided it's cool being PETS so now they figure they don't HAVE TO LAY ANYMORE EGGS. I'm not above go'n and wringing one of 'em's neck and butcher her right in front of the other two to get a point across... "You'll either lay eggs to put on our table out of respect for the housing, feed and protection we give ya, or you'll feed our family in another way"... as in BBQ!! LOL..

[mite5255]

Good to see the good Lady will be on the mend . with regards to the chigg'ns, your a hard hard man Frank, much in the same way of my Father in-law

[F.C.]

Mike, my formative years were live'n with my grandparents. Gramma was a baby when her parents participated in the Oklahoma Land Rush back in the 1800's. And her and her husband endured the Grapes of Wrath when everyone migrated out of the mid west dust bowl they stood their ground and weathered through it all and thrived. That was when my Dad was born and he ultimately grew up and served in WWII and Korea wars. I was taught and learned real quick like that Livestock are a resource you invest into in order to receive benefit. Somethin don't produce you identify which one's the slacker and you butcher it and get a younger one (or more) to take its place. A dog is the only animal I'll treat as a member of my pack but there again it better serve and protect what's mine or its days will be numbered as well. I have no patience for a freeloader regardless what species it is. The only dogs I've known to have an intuitive understanding toward that philosophy are Heelers and Labs, and some Terriers I've known. I prefer the Heeler breed because of their devout militant mindset. I've known labs to get soft on guard duty and allow intruders past the perimeter unchallenged. Terriers tend to wander off and explore too much and forget about their responsibilities. A heeler will take it personal if something gets past him or her and they'll up their efforts considerably to ensure the boss don't have to deal with another one of their screw-ups. All I have to do is give them a disappointed, disgruntled look and vibe and they KNOW what's goin through my mind. Pits are kinda like that, too, but they have a bad habit of making executive decisions that's not their place to do. Dogs are man's servant, not rulers of man's domain. I don't trust a pit to be left alone to their own decisions.

Am I a crusty ole' bastard? Some tend to think so, those with weak personalities that is. Those who appreciate diversity in men's personalities have no problem with me and, in fact, remain good friends with me throughout life. We may not hang out together but they sincerely appreciate I'm the same today as I was decades ago and will forever be in the future.

Tried use'n a small propane torch on the foam this morning. The destructions that came in the kit said this foam is fire resistant. Well, that's a lie, HAHA.... Touch that flame to the foam and in a nanosecond it would flare. Didn't shrink back like other foams would either. So, I quelled that idea because the foam is surface applied (with a lot of cavities exposed through foam with access beneath wire and the stuffed newspaper beneath as filler). Had me a bit concerned when I witnessed an instant flare and became nervous about potentially set'n the newspaper beneath (inside) on fire. That bear would go up in flames like napalm. Hell with that idea!! HAHAHA... So, I'm now try'n to come up with a solution to weed back some of this foam in a uniform fashion. Ideally, in a way that won't contaminate the entire shop with fly'n bits and teeny particals of foam debris. The quickest approach would be to roll this bear outside on the concrete apron and lay into it with a wire wheel mounted to my small grinder. All that debris would fly with the breeze, of course, and for sure them damn chigg'ns the wife's been coddling would end up eat'n the damn stuff and probably plug their innards. Another possible solution would be to get me some Xylene and brush it lightly on the foam surface which would dissolve that foam rather instantly. BUT... I have no idea if it would "stop" dissolving the foam and actually dry giving me a tack free finish. I guess this is what I get for venturing down uncharted paths no one's left tell-tale warnings of what to expect.

Anywhoo.... KEEP MOVE'N FORWARD.... Brunch is over, so better get back at it.

There's still the option to set up a torch and heat a flat wide blade red hot and sear the foam back to wire. Messed about doing that earlier this am, too. The fumes and smoke was very unpleasant. The only other option I can think of would be to create a hand held electric wire foam cutter. Or, bite the bullet and fashion a small hand held gouge tool and sharpen that razor sharp and cut out dollups of foam, at or lightly below the wire mesh grid) as I navigate about the structure. In a sense, I'm kinda regretting using this foam at this point, HAHAHA... Oh well... it is what it is, I suppose. DEAL WITH IT... keep move'n forward.

[F.C.]

Gouge was a pain to work with. This foam is too close to the wire mesh in a lot of places and I don't want an electric wire cutter to short out on the grid. Dig'n through other stuff I had available I picked up a super abrasive grinding pad (for tear'n off rust, etc.) and using that (disk in hand) it worked great smoothing out rough spots in the foam and not a lot of airborne particulates (if any). It was sloooow goin but had great benefit with regard to the finish it left. After two to three hours mess'n with that, I'd had enough. I wanted some frick'n ACTION. Search'n through more of my stuff I picked up a medium wire wheel on a spindle and chucked that up to my cordless drill. WHOLY BAT SHIT!! That sumbitch worked AWESOME!! Over the next 30 minutes I had done tons more than I did with that hand held disk. Not only removing foam (albeit, I had to watch it else it would rip out too much with a pass) on one maneuver the damn thing caught some wire and jerked off track and left a nice fat gouge about 4 inches long. At first I was pissed then realized the angle that gouge was at looked like the makings for some hair fold definition. So... I quit removing foam and began to define hair folds at strategic locations which after a few minutes this bear's start'n to come alive!! HAHAHA... But, I was coated head to toe with teensy tiny foam bits and dust all statically charged, of course. At least it was clung to me and not spread all across the shop. I simply walked outside with the air hose and blew myself off. If them chigg'ns eat that stuff so be it. They're replaceable and fact is I haven't seen an egg out of either of them in a five days. You know where I'm goin with that, don't ya... HAHAHA... *slurp*. My mouth's watering already, HAHAHA.

So I'm take'n a break. I'll hit it again this evening after supper.

[Jammer]

Shut the chickens up with no food or water for a day. Then give them water but no food for 3 more days. This will put them into a molt and they should start laying again is about a week.

[F.C.]

Interesting.... Shut them up in their coop? Or just keep'em contained within their pen? Their coop is small, not much bigger than a two hole outhouse. Only have three hens. As for molting, they've been molting since the day we got handed them. You'd think they oughta be bald by now from all the feathers I've seen strew'n about the place. But they're just as fat and feathery as the day we got them. Because of all the shit that's accumulating in their pen we decided to give them free range of the place. They wander about within an acre of property (no farther) and are always back in their coop an hour before dark. Seen 'em often nestled beneath my trailer or at the base of a tree (in the shade) together just chill'n. They never get farther than 10 ft. from one another. Thought they'd get fed better feasting off insects and grains off plants and possibly get to lay'n more eggs but it ain't work'n. That, or there's eggs laid around my property we ain't seen yet. Wife did say she found some egg shell beneath a tree about 20 yds from their pen but wasn't sure if was chicken egg shell or bird shell from a nest higher up in the tree. I looked at the shell remnants and they were the same color as what these hens been lay'n and in my opinion were thick enough and of sufficient size they could be from one of these hens.

So you're say'n to quit feed'n 'em for four days 'cept for water and cooped up (I'm assuming in their pen). What about let'n 'em roam the grounds? I'd be happy to leave them penned up 'cause I'm get'n tired of dodging chit piles between my house and shop. We even got them piles on our patio and the wife is even start'n to re-think about leave'n 'em to roam about. Four days without food, though... how long can these critters go without grains?

All I know about chigg'ns is how to feed, water, and butcher the damn things.

[Jammer]

Just shut them in the pen. Days start getting shorter and they shut down production. This kind of resets them for a few months, then spring comes and they lay like crazy.

[mite5255]

People think your a crusty old bastard? shit Frank you must know the same people that I do, I've been called the same lol lol. A few years back at the supermarket that we use to shop at there was this lady that was about the same age as the wife and I, she would always talk to the wife and would also try and have a conversation with me, she also knew our Daughter and would have a chat to her also. I would ether just grunt or use one Sybille answers. One day she said to my Daughter, whats up with your Dad, he won't talk, my Daughter just laugh and said its all a front Dad doesn't encourage people to speak to him so he puts on this crusty grumpy act, just keep trying you'll get through. on my next visit this woman as she was adding up the grocery's she told me what my Daughter said, I just laughed, we now chat like old friends

[Rasper]

I have used a good bit of polyurethane foam in my sculpture work over the years. One technique I found to be the best was to do the initial rough shape, and then cut it back roughly with a hand held hacksaw blade. Then i would mix small batches of the foam and brush it on. That way I built up thickness where I wanted it—much like adding clay to a clay model. I bought some large eye dropper type things in the baby section of the pharmacy to meter out the liquid foam parts. I rinse out the brush in acetone and get a lot of use from a brush.

Richard

[F.C.]

Well, like I said the wire wheel got busy get'n stuff done. Figure'n to experiment more I chucked up a stone rasp bit to my die grinder (air tool) and WOW!!! MASSIVE QUICK at shape'n the foam with a nice clean finish. Same amount of fine debris but WOW... talk about GIDDY-UP!!! It also worked terrific at carve'n in hair folds. Just gotta be easy on the touch with it as it'll go from 0 depth to clear to wire and through wire in a nanosecond. HAHAHA.....

Thanks, Jammer, for the chigg'n advice. Told the wife about it and she's bound to google it to see if yer pull'n our leg. You realize, of course, she's of the mindset that the only truth that exists in the world is on the internet. Me and her don't talk much about anything anymore. I do my thing, she does hers, then I end up fix'n shit she's done following Google's advice. No matter how many times she's fucked up follow'n shit she heard or read on internet she still just don't get it... Oh well.... such is my life.

See attached progress pics of the bear from this afternoon. It's coming right along. Not happy with the head so plan on modifying it considerably tomorrow. Same general posture, just that the anatomy just don't look nor feel right. Nose is too long for sure and needs to be turned up a smidgeon and the ears are too far forward and a bit too large in general. I can thin them out and hammer them into proper shape and force them further back to where they'll be more anatomic without removing them entirely and rebuilding them again. And, too, there needs to be a bit more fat between the ears off the back of the head itself. Once that's done I'll be doing some re-shape'n of the jowls, lips and the bridge of the nose between the eyes.