Uaithne, the Green Man, complete

I added the finishing touches to Uaithne today.  And I really think he turned out sharp!  This was such a fun project that I'm already contemplating making a wife for him.

In the last post, I'd left off with him naked.  As I'd said in that previous post, I was considering painting him grey, to look like bark.  I started off that way, but wasn't liking how he was looking, so I went back to my original plan, which was painting him with Lumiere brand paint, in metallic olive green.  It's a nice green with a bit of a gold sheen to it, and since some of the leaves I was going to use had a bit of a gold tinge, I thought that'd be perfect.  And, after all, his name does mean "green" in Irish.

Green's a much better color

I'd always planned on his eyes being blue.  I just thought that'd really stand out against the green skin & leaves, and I was right.  I've been painting eyes for years on my model horses, so I applied some of the same tricks here.  I painted the entire eyeball Warm White (all my acrylics are Folk Art brand), then used Brilliant Blue for the irises, which I painted solid.  Then I went in with a fine brush and added striations of Jamaican Sea and Calypso Sky (Sounds tropical, doesn't it?) and a border of Metallic Sapphire Blue.  Then the pupils were Mars Black, a bit of Fleshtone in the inner corners for tear ducts, and I "glossed" the eyes with clear nail polish.  (Sally Hansen, dual base & top coat)

Here's looking at you!

Originally I wanted him to hang outside, but I couldn't find anywhere that he'd both look good and be safe from the elements.  If I'd been able to find a spot, I would've sealed him with a couple layers of Krylon matte sealer.

Then came the fun part - adding the leaves!  It really was fun.  I had some leaves from some silk flowers I'd bought for a different project, and a bunch of round-leaf English ivy I picked up at Goodwill.  I don't know what the flowers were intended to be - they have huge heads that look like mums, but the leaves were in groups of three and five, and there were two sets of red-tipped yellow leaves.

I started by snipping off a couple ivy leaves, inserting the stems into the holes of a pair of the triple-lobed leaves, and then gluing those around the base of the antlers.  Then I slipped a pair of ivy leaves, one medium, one small, into the stem hole of one of the five-lobed leaves, and glued that between the antlers on top of his head.  At first I tried using Elmer's, but they wouldn't stay put.  I considered using hot glue, but that would've been a hassle - getting the extension cord off the lamp in the living room, getting behind the rolling drawers to plug it into the outlet, heating up the glue, trying to hold the leaves in place long enough to set without burning my fingers or gluing myself to the project...  So I tried super glue.  But the super glue I have is a push-tip applicator, and the tip was poking holes into the plaster, so after the antler leaves I quit.  And got out The World's Most Annoying glue.  Goop.  That's what the stuff's called, folks.  "Amazing Goop Craft contact adhesive and sealant."  It comes in a metal tube and there's a variety of types.

I don't know if it's just my tube, or if all of them do this, but it won't stop oozing glue out the tip.  As soon as you take the cap off it starts oozing, and no matter what position you put it in, glue just keeps on coming out.  I had to cap it between every single leaf cluster I glued on, or balance it upright against something and wipe the ooze off before I could use it.  Because another weird feature of this glue is it dries quickly, and yet also gives you time to reposition stuff.  Weird, but effective.

He has hair!  And eyebrows

I continued adding leaves, slipping them under the first layer, alternating between the psuedo-mums and ivy.  Before I got too far, though, I added his eyebrows.  They are actually moss - I bought a roll of ProFlora moss ribbon that was on clearance at Wal-Mart.  It's cleaned (well, they claim - I was picking dried grass and other stuff out of it), dried, dyed and adhered (somehow) to a flexible canvas-type backing.  It's intended for floral arrangements: "ProFlora Moss Ribbon is an ideal accent for all types of floral, wedding and creative projects."  And Green Men.  You just cut the length and shape you want and glue it on.  (The moss is no longer alive, so you don't have to worry about watering your projects.  But they do recommend you mist it with water to "fluff" the moss.  Which I did before I glued the eyebrows on.  Hard to tell if it helped or not.)

More leaves, using ivy as "ears" and one of the tri-lobed leaves, with a couple small ivy leaves, for a "beard."  I cut one of the five-lobed leaves apart to keep the two smallest ones attached, and gave him a "mustache."  And I thought he looked pretty good.

Finished!  Or is he..?

But the more I looked at him, the more naked his face seemed.  His chin was too prominent, his cheeks too large.  So I slipped a couple ivy leaves in on the sides, covering his cheeks, and cut another set of five so there was a medium and a small leaf still attached to each other, and slipped those under the ends of his mustache, with the smaller leaves framing his bottom lip.  I also cut the leftover leaf in half and glued it under his lower lip to cover his chin more.

I took him outside for pictures against the green of my house, but, as I said, there wasn't anywhere I felt he fit.  Then I came in...and found the perfect spot for him right next to my back door.

You can't even tell I neglected to give him nostrils...

More is better

Looks right at home, doesn't he?