On the BIG screen!!!

So, for anyone who may have missed the NH Chronicle debut, here's the video:

http://www.wmur.com/chroniclevideo/25481637/index.html

Delivery day! (congratulations, it's a bug!)

All loaded up and ready for a road trip...why do I feel like I'm taking my beloved pet out to the countryside to set him free (without him knowing?)

Oh right! Because I am :)

Here we are with one of the proud new parents, Maurice. Cindy was nice enough to come along too and video tape it, mostly for posterity reasons. Although, I think it might have been for a TV show, too?

A fine farewell. Happy and sad, all at once!

Such a colorful character!

Well, you really should get dressed up if you're going outside...

...really!

So, first I do an primer coat, which I actually love the look of...kind of looks like a giant clay sculpture.

Then once that is dry, we go dark!

And than I decided to try and get a little shimmer effect,
so I painted him a metallic blue.

By the end of that process, he wasn't the only one shimmering...my poor shoes will never be the same. But, look out disco night!!!

Now it's on to the top colors...which consisted of about seven different shades of greens!

Finally, i went over the whole sculpture with about five layers of clear coat to protect and polish him off :)

Then I just let him hang out on the front yard for a few days to fully dry.

Plus, it was fun to see all the neighbors drive by,
and wonder if I had been eaten?!

Where's that pretty smile? ....Oh!

So...the head of this mantis was actually the hardest part to build.

I couldn't find the right shape anywhere! It's not quite round, it's not quite square, and it's sort of like a squished pyramid...yeah, try finding that at the hardware store! So, eventually I decided to just shape it out of a propane tank.

But where to begin? Well, by using a ball of clay, I could try cutting it into various pieces and see how they fit back together. With a little trial and error (and a dash of desperation) I finally found a winning combo!

So, I transcribed the "cut lines" onto the tank...

...and got to work!

The eyes were tricky, too! Again, after countless hours of searching the scrap piles, I had to give in and buy something new....quick drains!

With a few snips here and there (once again...love the grinder!) I had my eyes...or rather my mantis had his eyes!

Ta-da!

And here we are almost all put together...him more than me, I think?

Did someone order claws???

We're going verticle!!!

You've got to destroy in order to create!

You can never have too many clamps!

Up, up and away!

Why stop at just two wings?

Beep! Beep! ...wings?

I know, I know. That poor VW!
...but it wasn't me...I just found it that way :)

Next step...we're gonna need a body!

And as it just so happens, I had one laying around!

Of course it wasn't always this beautiful!
I had to put a whole bunch of bits
and pieces together to make it work.

Lots of metal gas tanks and
lots and lots of bond-o to fill in the cracks!

Then once it was dry, I smoothed it all out with my grinder.
(...man, I love that grinder!)

And so the next step was to connect the body to the legs. First, I suspended it from the ceiling with ropes, then I got to work welding it in place!