As a woodcarver for over 25 years, I’ve carved over 200 original, cartoon-like characters in wood, and a few wildlife and religious pieces as well.

One day, I was driving around town, and I saw a bill board for Octopus Car Wash, and I wanted to carve a similar one, with a goofy look on it face. So, that’s what I did…I cut out nine pieces of wood, and shaped the pieces and glued the pieces together. The friendly octopus measured about 8 inches across and about 4 inches tall. It was painted with a dark brown stain and a dark green wash. The people at Octopus Car Wash actually bought one of these pieces from me, and hung it on the ceiling in the place of business.

Over many years, I have participated in over 40 arts and crafts shows all around the state of New Mexico (USA) where I live. The octopus was my “attention-getter” at all the shows, and it would sit at the top of my display, and it certainly got its share of attention.

All of my wood carvings were photographed, and almost all had captions; headlines and a story about the piece. Many of them were photographed in a natural setting. For example: The wildlife and birds were photographed in the forest; a fisherman would be photographed near a stream or pond; a snowy owl would be photographed in a snowy scene and so forth.

During this long period of time, I managed to photograph all my wood pieces…except one…the octopus! How would I photograph an octopus in a natural setting? It couldn’t be photographed in an aquarium…for that would be cheesy! A stream or lake was out! The only thing I could think of, was to build a seascape for it…but how? Week after week went by, and I couldn’t figure out how to build a seascape for the octopus!

Over several weeks, I kept notes on the project in my home office, to keep the idea in the forefront of my mind. But, the more time would elapse, the harder it was to focus on the problem and to come up with the answer. Three to four months went by…and NOTHING!

For over ten years, and as a technician, I worked for a large engineering company. Many of the small parts, that we manufactured, like sensors and probes, had to be filled with foam to keep the parts inside from moving and to keep the elements out, etc.

One day, I was pouring foam into a sensor and…BINGO…I lit up like a Christmas tree! “THAT’S IT!” I thought to myself! FOAM…to make the seascape for the octopus! Why didn’t I think of this sooner! But, it’s one thing to come up with an idea, and quite another to make it work. I knew the foam would work…but the question now was how would I do it!

The juices inside me were working now, because I had been working on this idea (in my mind) for four months and now I could get started. For the seascape, I decided to use an ordinary cardboard box, which measured about 3 feet by 3 feet. I cut all the flaps off the box, and I cut it in half…diagonally…from corner to corner. Now, I had the housing for my seascape!

For all of you who are not familiar with 2-part liquid foam (A-B), after mixing the two parts, it dries very quickly. So, it has to mixed in small amounts and poured very quickly where you want it. I knew for this project, there would be several pours, etc. I knew that the center or corner of the box would be for the den of the octopus, so I would have to pour heavy and then carve out the den after the foam dried.

I mixed a half a paper cup of foam, and started on one side of the cardboard box, pouring the foam down the side of the box. It would take several pours to get the right thickness and consistency . The foam was a “sand color,” so it already began to look like a seascape right away. It took about 40 minutes to do all the pouring…from one side of the box to the other, and all along the flooring of the box had to be built up, too.

Because foam dries so fast, I took an x-acto knife right away, and started carving and shaping the foam. Sandpaper was also used to shape the foam. Some of the decorative swirls what were made while pouring, were left alone, which added to the beauty of the scene.

After carving out the den of the octopus in the corner of the box, I sprayed the hole with black spray paint, to give it a shadow-like effect, and the entrance to the den was painted with a dark brown and dark green wash.

I set the wooden octopus down in front of the entrance to the den, and it fit perfectly! WOW! Was this seascape shaping up! To add a little humor to the scene, I cut a piece of hard board, which measured about one inch by 2 inches, and I wrote on it, “Home, Sweet, Home” on the little sign, and I glued it over the den of the octopus! We need a little humor in everything, right?

After all the shaping of the seascape was complete, I sprayed the entire scene with some light-colored “sand” color to high-light the scene. At the hobby store, I bought some artificial mini-plants; some grass powder, which I sprinkled all over the scene; small pieces of drift wood; small rocks; and twigs; and many pebble-size rocks added to the scene. And, I bought a hand full of sea shells about the size of a dime, and completed the project. WOW! Did it look realistic…I couldn’t believe how good it looked!

I photographed it, and when the photos came back…it looked great! This was one of my best projects…ever! Mind you, there aren’t many people out there looking to build a seascape anytime soon, but the message here, is to stay with your ideas, and keep them in the forefront of your mind. And, you too, may have fire crackers going off in your head, in the form of ideas that you have been looking for! GOOD LUCK!

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Copyright; Jerry L. Aragon (The Humor Doctor) 2007