Chingedy-Ching!

I posted an early phase 1 photo on facebook a couple weeks ago without telling anyone what it was or what it would become.  I didn't get any guesses, and if I did, I'm confident they'd have been wrong.  :)

Here's a reminder of those 2 photos I posted.

Pretty underwhelming looking start, right?  I've never posted in-progress photos before finishing it so this was a little scary!  No idea what it is right?  Well, if the title of this post didn't tip you off friends, then you need to spend one Christmas season in Boston, or make more Italian American friends!

This painters tape and papertowel monstrosity was to become my long awaited Dominick the Donkey!  Please please please tell me you know the song.  In Boston, they played it at 5pm every day from Thanksgiving until Christmas!  The nostalgia from being a kid, from living back in New England, and the memories it raises of my fur-sister Maggie are just so warm and fuzzy and I've wanted a Dominick decoration for years now.

For those of you who aren't in the know... allow me to culture and educate you...

Ok, so you saw the wadded up paper towels all held together by painters tape.  Then I started adding paper mache layers over it with paper towels instead of newspaper.  In hindsight I should have used newspaper and only used the paper towels for sculpting.   Small gluey paper towels are perfect for adding features like nostrils and eye sockets!  Oh, by the way, I should mention I used 4 parts water, 1 part flour for the glue mixture.  I brought it to nearly boiling, and then immediately let it cool.  It gets gooier that way.  :)  I learned as I went because my only paper mache experience was for a project in 5th grade I think!

Here are some paper mache progress photos.  Mom, as usual, was not feeling it, though I can't say I blame her this time!!

The reason I wish I'd used newspapers is because the paper towels wanted to retain the moisture and it took forever to dry.  The photo above took 2 days, and even then I had to put it out in the sun on a windy day.  

Ok, so the next photo I'm hoping some of you are starting to become believers.  The papertowels got covered with a crisper newspaper finish, and I taped on bent cardboard to look like ears and paper mached over those too.

So then it was just paint, some yarn for hair, and mounting him on a little wood plaque to make it easier to hang him on the wall.  I added 2 different sized wreaths to make him a little more substantial.  Now that I know what I'm doing I may do a bigger version next year.  :)

Oh!  I experimented with my brand new Cricut mini cutter too so he could have his name on his little donkey bridle.  It worked great for these small letters!

Ok, so you ready to meet him?  

Isn't he handsome?  He makes me smile!

Hope you're believers now.  I'll be posting soon about all the Christmas projects I've been working on.  The house feels so lovely right now.  Just need to find a few minutes to sit down and enjoy the warm glow at night!!  Stay tuned.