Ukulele Rex: A Little Boy Was Wild

A few weeks ago I created the Violinosaurus Rex and shipped that down to the Wustum Museum in Racine (WI) for a show called Creature Comforts:  a RAM Community Art Exhibition. 

I guess I miss the little dude because I decided to start another dinosaur from a musical instrument and this time up it is the ukulele. 

Having been through the process once before, the engineering of this should have gone smoothly but it appears that each project will create its own challenges based on the size of the instrument, the angle of the body and the base I choose to use. 

This time around I measured everything up very carefully for the legs, drilled the holes in the base and clayed in the rods.  Then I discovered they were too far apart.  So I had to splay the legs differently on this project and ultimately I think it gives this creature a squatter, lower look that I kind of like. 

In order to balance these things, each project needs a tail and this one needed a big time tail to hide the bolt that is holding the weight to counterbalance the porcelain head that I decided was going to stick a foot out in front of the uke. 

Eventually with enough bolts and clay, the whole things sticks together pretty well.  Of course, the real question was what would happen when I needed my drill to actually drill. 

Then it is the fun of using caulk to texture up the body and make a uniform surface for all the components.  Once that dries overnight, it is on to painting.

When I had this little guy done, I still thought something is missing so I decided to add the spine like ukulele strings on his back. 

I also hunted through my sheet music to find a piece that would be appropriate and I think I found a winner when I found the line, "A little boy was wild." 

So, $23 worth of supplies and 8 hours of work later, we have Ukulele Rex:  A Little Boy Was Wild.