Paul the Puffer

SO there is a story behind everything and this particular project has a real process to it, it reflects upon the art of will, and let things fall into place. The first time I drove by this bubble window from the 70’s in Lincoln Nebraska in 2013 I said to my wife I want to do something with that window. Well I did about a year went by and the opportunity came about, in 2015 city Councilman Jon Camp bought a Harvest Bowl from me and in the happenings of the transact, he asked me if there was a project I wanted to do downtown. I said there was, I want to put a huge puffer fish in that Window on O street. He gave me the number to call and going through a lot of red tape with the city it finally happened.
So the project started, I researched Paper Mache , like I did in grade school, that wasn’t it, but with further investigation, I found this technique called Paper Clay I lost the link to give you, but I used carpenter glue, sheetrock mud, salt, boiled linseed oil and Clorox, with a roll of soaked toilet paper. And guess what I ended up with, a sandable product. So to start the project I took 1 1/8 slats of white oak 3/8” thick and made these big bands about 6 ft in diameter. Then covered it with Chicken wire, then masking tape, then paper clay here’s the end result.

michael and Paul the Puffer

Now he sits in the window watching people go up and down O street sitting in his bubble to this day, so next time you're in Lincoln NE let me know.

Adios,

michael steven @nowian.man