A miniature gueridon tutorial: 2. Adding a plinth and a crown

Hello dear friends.
Thank you for all your kind words on the last post. It has been almost a month now. Because of a lot of thinks in RL I have not spent half as much time on miniatures as I expected to be able to. The two rooms I am building are progressing but progress is really so terribly slow! A bit frustrating. But oh well. what can't be done today, may be done tomorrow.

In between I picked up another project that was lingering in a box for quite some time. Back in august 2019 I showed you the first part of the transformation of two spelter cast angels who used to adorn a wall clock into a pair of gueridons.

Remember these little rascals?

Now we are already halfway into 2020 and so it is high time to finish this project. It has taken so long (in part) because I could not decide how to make the base. Would I cut up a picture frame with the right profile? I scoured the second hand shops but never found a frame in the right shape or size. I could make one myself using wood and or clay. But wich of the two?

 Both as it turned out. I had made a few sketches to see how I want the crown and base to look.

For the base and the crown I cut out several circles and octogons in different sizes.  I've built up the basic form of the base and crown in different combinations until I was happy with the result of both and glued the different discs of wood together.

                           

Then I used airdrying clay to fill up the gaps and now the final shape finally emerges. with some shaping and moulding I added some decorations into the clay. When all had dried I gave the base and crown two thin layers of paint. White for the bases and gold for the crowns.

You can all probably guess where it goes from here. The crowns will be gilded (eventually, have not learned that yet.) but for now gold paint will do. And the bases will be marbled in a blueish grey marble imitation.

Now it was time to bring the different pieces together. I drilled holes in the base, large enough to be able to screw in the figure. Then I glued on the crown. And made sure that the top of the crown was level.

Et voila, a gueridon with a dancing putto! On the picture below you can see that they have practically the same height as my pair of gueridons made by John Hodgson. It worked well. I am pleased with the result and will make the second one soon.

Well, that is it for now. I hope that you have enjoyed this little post and till next time!

Huibrecht