Adding the skin

Whooeeey, we have been busy. Cat and I worked on the volcano all Sunday afternoon, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights, and we plan to go again tonight. We have applied almost all the "skin" to the structures. This involves making the glue, wetting paper with it, and applying it to the chicken wire. The glue formula is five parts water to one part flour. Boil four units of water, mix the remaining unit with the flour (whisking to reduce lumps), and adding to the boiling water. Cook for three minutes and you have paste (or really tasteless gravy).

We used newspaper as the base layer; the supply was abundant and cost us nothing. We learned that the paper used by our local newspaper is superior for these purposes to the paper used by the Big Flat City newspaper south of us. Well, there's something to be proud of. You can see in the top photo how the process begins. We have to stand on a scaffold to reach the interior surfaces. The bottom photo, although blurry (no, it's not your eyes), shows a completed section. After the newspaper skin dries, it is time to apply the brown craft paper skin. This will provide a base color and is far easier to paint than newspaper. I will provide photos of that in the next posting.