» Morezmore # next Tarot. Major Arkana. The Fool (Part 1)***

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Tarot. Major Arkana. The Fool (Part 1)
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Posted By Natasha Red October on April 10, 2008

Day 1 (April 10, 2008)

This will, hopefully, be a beginning of a whole Tarot set – a major undertaking for a turtle sculptor such as I am. But, with a foolish optimism, quite in the spirit of the first Major Arcana card, I am embarking on this journey.

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As I am starting, I cannot help remembering myself when I arrived to USA in 1991, having nothing but a backpack with a change of clothes. I had 30 dollars (the amount allowed to be taken on the trip by the USSR laws at that time) and 70 more dollars smuggled in my bra.

The Fool I was, and this card’s Basic Meaning applied to me at that time. And that was not the last time I lived that card.

That is what I like about Tarot cards – they encapsulate every human being’s experience at some point of her/his life.

How about you – can you relate?

The Fool Card Concept:

– beginning: entering a new phase, striking out on a new path, expanding horizons, starting something new, beginning an adventure, going on a journey; heading into the unknown

– having faith: trusting the flow; staying open; letting go of worry and fear; feeling protected and loved; living in joy; recapturing innocence; believing in yourself; believing in other people

– embracing folly: accepting your choices; taking the “foolish” path; pursuing a pipe dream; being true to yourself; taking a “crazy” chance; trusting your heart’s desire; trusting your instincts; taking “the road less travelled”

being spontaneous: living in the moment; letting go of expectations; doing the unexpected; acting on impulse; feeling uninhibited; surprising someone; feeling carefree

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Basic Tarot Symbols

The fool in colorful motley clothes, pack tied to a staff, a small dog, a cliff.

Basic Tarot Story

With all his worldly possessions in one small pack, the Fool travels he knows not where. So filled with visions and daydreams is he, that he doesn’t see the cliff he is likely to fall over. At his heel, a small dog harries him (or tries to warn him of a possible mis-step).

Basic Tarot Meaning

At #0, the Fool is the card of infinite possibilities. The bag on the staff indicates that he has all he need to do or be anything he wants, he has only to stop and unpack. He is on his way to a brand new beginning. But the card carries a little bark of warning as well. Stop daydreaming and fantasizing and watch your step, lest you fall and end up looking the fool.

In the Tarot, cards like The Magician or The Hermit can often stand for the Querent or for someone in the Querent’s life. The Fool, however, almost always stands for the Querent alone, no one else. In standing for the Querent, the Fool represents a time of newness, a time when life has been “re-started” as it were. The person feels that they are back at Zero, whether that be in romantic affairs, or career, at their job or intellectual pursuits. Far from being sad or frustrating, the Querent feels remarkably *free*, light hearted and refreshed, as if being given a second chance. They feel young and energized.

In addition, they likely have no idea where they’re going or what they’re going to do. But that doesn’t matter. For the Fool, the most important thing is to just go out and enjoy the world. To see what there is to see and delight in all of it.

Unfortunately, in this childlike state the person is likely to be overly optimistic or naive. A Fool can be a Fool. This is the card likely to turn up when a Querent is thinking of investing his money in a new, “sure fire” business. Or when the Querent is sure that it’s “love this time!” Like the Fool, they’re so busy daydreaming of what might be that they’re ignoring what is. They’re about to fall right off a cliff. Time for them to listen to that watchful little dog, which might be a concerned friend, a wise tarot reader, or just their instincts.

As a card, the Fool ultimately stands for a new start. When it turns up the Querent might be about to make a move, not just to a new home, but new job, new life. There’s more than just change, renewal, and a brand new beginning in the Fool, there’s also movement, a fresh, exciting new time.

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Day 2 (April 11, 2008)

Good morning – it is 5:15 here and a brand new day with brand new possibilities!

Before I start making The Fool, I decided to make a new and improved armature peg board. The old one was quickly put together to see if it works, and as I use it again and again, it is time to make a permanent one

Yesterday I went to a hardware store, and after examining all lumber options there and getting into trouble with the lumber loading equipment guys (I did not notice the “Isle Closed” sign), I was directed to the “craft boards” isle. There I found a 1/2″ x 6″ x 24″ craft board which was about right. I also picked up a package of 3/4 x 16 wire nails and, quite incidentally, a couple of really great looking black polished natural stone granite tiles 12″ x 12″ for my sculpting desk. They have glass-like high polish non-porous surface. They can be messed up, then scraped, then wiped or simply put into the dishwasher (a major plus for me)

Anyway, back to the peg board:

Searched out and collected:

my craft board (1/2″ x 6″ x 12″)

package of wire nails (3/4 x 16)

hammer

a printout of Ms. Bones You can grab it here – Compliments of Morezmore: http://www.morezmore.com/links.html

any glue that would glue paper to wood

3D crystal lacquer

brush

scissors

Glued the images on the board and cut the board to size on Lou’s power band saw.

Coated with crystal lacquer (optional)

Spread the lacquer evenly coating the surface. It is drying right now.

After it is dried, mark the wire line and the points for nails. Here they are on a digital diagram.

And here is my new peg board:

To make an armature on this peg board:

make a hook on the end of the wire

starting at the ankle and pulling hard, wrap the wire all around the nails, following the wire line

cut the wire at the wrist and remove the wire

make another one same way and flip it around to make the other side

starting at the bottom, do the same thing for the spine piece

here is what, hopefully, will emerge from all that:

The sculpt will consist of the Fool, a cliff and a little dog.

Here is the “cliff” – a piece of manzanita burl:

It is 8 am, I need to start my working day, so until tomorrow!

Thank you for watching!

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Day 3 (April 12, 2008)

Good morning! Today – the armature. The Fool will have the Morezmore Modular Brickhouse Armature and the detailed description of this kind of armature can be found on Fortuna’s blog:

http://morezmore.com/myblog/2008/03/08/fortuna-1/

As my Fool is a male, I made his shoulders a bit broader and his hips more narrow.

The cliff in this card plays an important symbolical role, so I decided to enhance its precipitousness by adding another sliver of manzanita on top. Magic Smooth is the adhesive. To expedite the curing, I put the burl into the oven for 15 minutes at 260, it is enough to set it rather firmly, so I can continue working this morning. I started at 4:50 and it is 6:21 right now, so I still have a good amount of time.

Now, cutting a piece for the base tubing. Then drilling a hole into the burl for the base tube, not worrying to much about the angle, just straight down, the angle can be corrected later. Trying to fit the base tube into the hole. If you drill too deep (and I did), correct the depth with tiny pieces of toothpicks. Once the base tube sits just right, pulled the base tube out, stuffed the hole with Magic Smooth (with a toothpick) – as much as I could fit into it, put the tube in. If the hole is a bit wider than needed (and mine is), correct it by wedging the base tube with sharp ends of toothpicks. Overall, tried to make the tube sit in the hole tight and secure, even with uncured Magic Smooth.

Ok, we can leave the burl alone now and let the Magic Smooth do its job. In about 12 hours it will be rock-hard, all one piece – the burl and the base tube.

FOREVER.

While making Mistress, I made a mistake in positioning the base rod and wanted to pull it out. After quite a bit of struggle with pliers, I had to give up – it was not possible, I just had to cut it off.

All right, the armature is covered by Magic Sculpt by now and is curing. I will be able to slightly adjust the pose and the angle later without breaking the epoxy. It is close enough for now:

When I think about what my Fool will look like, one image keeps coming to my mind. Just one face, no other ideas. I did give it a good thought and even slept on it, but it is still present and no other options are available. So I have no choice other than go along with my rather persistent inner artist and make my Fool look like Fabio.

The good news is I will not have a problem finding plenty of reference photos of Fabio. I am going to fix myself a cup of coffee and spend some quality time looking for some Fabio-lous Fabio shots. Off I go to Fabio International Fan Club.

brb…

Here we go:

It is almost 9 am, so I am going to continue tomorrow.

Thank you for watching!

Day 4 (April 13, 2008)

Good morning!

I need to make Fool’s head. Making head and face is always a struggle for me – from both engineering and artistical point of view. To cut down on the frustration levels, I learned to gear up for this undertaking with a couple of tools and props. First – I am going to prepare the “skull” to prevent the clay head ball from rotating, shifting, wiggling and wobbling under my hands. If I simply start by diligently and tightly packing the ball of clay on the wire, by the time I have some resemblance of a face going, the head practically spins around.

Here is what I came up with – if you know a better, less involved way, please let me know. For now, I go through this trouble EVERY TIME as I don’t see any other way.

1. Put the head module tube on the Head Widget (cork + magnet + wire + magic sculpt). That will give me:

a) a handle to hold on to so that I don’t handle the back of the head

b) a way to put it down without destroying my work – the Head Widget magnet on the bottom will make it securily stand upright on any metal surface

c) a way to bake upright

2. Wrap a little bit of wire around the tube – very tightly, using pliers. Need I say it? It MUST NOT rotate.

3. Put a little blob of Magic Sculpt to SEAL IT All DEAD. It also gives some bulk to the back of the head.

The next set of challenges are of more artistic nature – the make the basic head shape. For reference I am using the book by Burne Hogarth “Drawing the Human Head”. Very helpful images picture basic planes of human head – but appear on different pages.

To have them all in front of me without flipping pages all the time, I made this “Human Head Planes” picture aid. I also made the mirror images of each picture to help me orient myself better. Then printed them. They are regular page size and I can arrange them in front of me for immediate reference.

I started, made some progress, then realized that the angle is wrong. The Fool needs to tilt his head upwards and in my head the chin was too close to the neck wire. Scrap. I am out of time, need to start my working day, so I will continue tomorrow.

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Day 5 (April 14, 2008)

l made 4 heads and folded them down – nothing satisfactory enough to take a picture of. Will continue tomorrow.

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Day 6 (April 15, 2008)

Good morning! Today I realized why my Fool’s face is refusing to appear. I was going about the concept in a totally wrong way. The Fool is not an idiot. Well, he is, but in a completely different way. The fool is a romantic, head-in-the-clouds day-dreamer, an idealist, a wide-eyed aspirer, an irrepressible optimist, innocence intact.

So! Scratch that Fabio idea.

The Fool is a silly sweet young man, almost a boy. He just left home, starting on his exciting journey to explore the world, with a few belongings – he neither has nor needs many. The day is young, the weather is nice, the birds are singing, the possibilities are endless. He remembers the warnings he received before the departure, but those warnings are for losers. He is strong, smart, sexy, confident and invincible. He is off to the Great Adventure and the world is his oyster.

brb

*****

They say that once you answer clearly in your head the question “What are you trying to do?”, the question “How to do it?” will be answered. This saying held true for me this morning.

Once I knew WHAT The Fool looked like, HOW to make him became clear. And I have the head! It is still in the rough, but I am out of time, will have to continue tomorrow.

This is what I have now:

One more thing: I made a Glass Eye Inserting Tool – out of the Rubber Tip tool – just slice the end off with an exacto knife. The rubber is the only material that I know of that does not slip on glass, thus allowing to reposition the eyes and correct any signs of lazy eye, cock-eye, etc.

Day 7 (April 16, 2008)

Good morning! I cleaned up the above head and he is baking at the moment. I took a few pictures before baking, just to see what else might need to be corrected. Instead of using liquid sculpey for smoothing, I used prosculpt smoothing oil this time and it worked great, I liked it.

Here he is – this is already baked. As usual, some of the inperfections MUST reveal themselves AFTER baking, but that is just the way it goes. Overall, I am satisfied, will keep the head and move on. His cranium is too small – for the hair scale reason. When I tried in the past to sculpt a normal size cranium, after I put the hair on – even the finest kind – tibetan lamb – the head appeared humangous and I had to shave off some clay. This time, I kept it smaller and I think it should like all right with the hair on.

For anatomy reference I am going to use Magic Sculpture http://www.magicsculpture.com

reference pictures.

The models from Magic Sculpture are 3 D, can be rotated and saved/printed whatever angle one needs. I have them printed 8″ tall, but here, for modesty reasons, I am putting tiny thumbnails to give you an idea:

and a few images for hands. The book is “Drawing Dynamic Hands” by Burne Hogarth and it is great!

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Day 9 (April 18, 2008)

Good morning! I have something to post – the torso start. Don’t laugh, it is in the rough, he looks like a beef grading chart at the moment, because I was marking what goes where, he will be more slender and will have normal, much less defined musculature.

First packed the clay tight all around the armature, trying to make it as solid one piece as possible.

Then printed my 8 point reference pictures. They are the same height as the Fool and arranged in front of me in a turning succession.

After hours of shaving, cutting, pushing, pulling, marking, drawing, I arrived to this. I am going to take a break with the Fool, do something about Behemoth and start my working day.

Thank you for watching

This post first appeared on Ebay Blogs. As Ebay is not supporting blogs anymore, I am moving all archives here, including all the comments – Thank you!

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