Karen Stix

Caterpillar and Mushroom

By Karen Stix | 8 comments 8 comments

Details

The two small mushrooms at the base are ceramic. The hookah pipe is real. Opie the caterpillar has blown glass eyes. Everything else is papier mache.

8 comments

Erin Cooper

Erin Cooper

May 4, 2012 at 1:05AM

oh wow, this is really big! did it take a long time to dry?

Karen Stix

Karen Stix

May 4, 2012 at 2:09AM

It's about 8 or 9 individual layers of heavy paper, so each layer dried overnight. Tedious stuff. For example, each layer on the caterpillar's body took about 6 hours to apply. The fiddly bits took longer, like the legs, arms and antennae. It's all the same, except the thin layer of celluclay on the mushroom top. The whole project took about 6 weeks.

kel montkur

October 11, 2012 at 10:51PM

amazing! how much would you sell this for?

Karen Stix

Karen Stix

October 11, 2012 at 11:17PM

Dear Kel,

Thank you for the nice compliment! It's not for sale...I'm too attached to it. I could make another one but wouldn't have a clue how much to charge- I've never sold anything before!

Renee

December 20, 2012 at 3:27AM

Omg I love it I want one how much it's amazing just like Alice I'm wonderland please let me know a price

Karen Stix

Karen Stix

December 21, 2012 at 6:20PM

Thanks, Renee! Your comments are very sweet. I kept a log while I was making the caterpillar. I have about $318 invested in materials. I spent 90+ hours on the caterpillar and another 40+ hours on the mushroom. If I paid myself minimum wage of $8/hour, plus the cost of materials, I could reproduce him for $1,358. Too much, right? I used $100 blown-glass German eyes and could probably buy well-done plastic eyes for half that and reduce the cost by $50. Ha ha. Still too much? I know why artists have such a hard time making a living at this, and I'm not even a proper artist. It was very nice of you to ask, though, and I appreciate the encouragement!

iur

iur

January 4, 2013 at 12:06PM

amazing piece

Karen Stix

Karen Stix

January 4, 2013 at 3:24PM

Thank you, iur!

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