The Day of the Damned part two -

Yesterday I recounted my morning of a rather bad day. Now at this time I'd like to mention that about a month prior, I invested in a small display bust to photograph hanging earrings on. 

The bust was not exactly what I had wanted, the one I desired was lovely but at $60 (not including S and H) I could not justify the expense (especially since I have not sold anything in my etsy shop in what seems like an eternity) but it was what I could afford, $17.00.

When I ordered the display bust I knew she was a profile and would only have one ear but I thought the head  would be life size. When she arrived I realized she was life sized -  if she had been a primordial dwarf.

(As you can see, this smaller than life size bust measures 8 1/2 inches tall from table top to the tip of her ear.)

Though  she didn't have two ears and  she wasn't life size and  she hadn't been my first choice, or for that matter my second choice either,  she was okay.  She would work for what I needed and I actually used her in a couple of photo shoots.

Those of you that dropped by yesterday and read my first post, may remember how I was having a bad bead day and decided to try photography instead.  You may also recall how that morning dear snippy Mom Nature was not at all cooperative, blowing things off my make shift table and cashing the sun in and out behind the scudding clouds.  Eventually I gave up and went inside, deciding to try again later in the afternoon.

Time passed, the day wore on and the sun had passed its zenith and was now much lower in the western sky.  So once again I lugged out my temporary outdoor "photo studio". 

Setting up the folding wood table on the concrete patio, I began placing all the paraphernalia that my photo session would require: a few sheets of white card stock, a tray of earrings that I wanted to photograph, a ruler to use for size comparison, my camera and the almost virgin jewelry display bust.

Placing the bust first on the table I began unloading the other things. The camera was the last thing down and as soon as it hit the table, one of the table legs suddenly snapped into the lock position, it had moved only a fraction of an inch but that was enough to jostle the table and the top heavy display bust teetered precariously before it took it's fatal plunge to the concrete slab below. 
There was no way I could stop it, no way to reach out and grab it. I was frozen in time watching as everything seemed to be projecting in front of me like a movie being played in slow motion. I believe I may have closed my eyes as the display hit the slab and I heard the sickening sound of plaster shattering against concrete.

For the next 30 to 40 minutes I picked up broken bits and pieces and scoured through the leaves and mulch in the flowerbed looking for remnants of the broken bust.   Some pieces were never recovered.  I tried to fit what pieces I had found together but oddly enough (or maybe not so oddly as this was the Day of the Damned) the pieces just would not fit  neatly, it was like a cardboard jig saw puzzle where some of the pieces had gotten wet and were now swollen, impossible to fit into the puzzle.

 

 

 

Anyway I did the best I could, it stinks I know.  I'm thinking about filling in the cracks at the front of the display (not sure what to do with the mess at the back or that big chunk that is missing at the back of her shoulder)  and then painting her.  I do have some faux stone, spray paint (comes in 2 parts) but I'm not as handy with fixing up display pieces like my idol, Patty of My Life Under the Bus, is (she's incredible). 

 

Whatever solution I come up with, for the time being it will have to do until I've enough funds in my business account to purchase another.   Only the next one will be the one I have coveted, the lifelike mannequin with not one but two ears . . . and is not fabricated of fragile plaster.

 

And I pray that I won't have another Day of the Damned like this one for a very long, long time. :)