Steam Restaurant Part 2 "The main airship"

In each post from now on I will take you through the process of each project for this restaurant.

Today I am going to show you the main airship that is the centerpiece of the entrance hall.

I started with a paper lampshade and sprayed it copper.  I then took two different sized hoola hoops and sprayed them gold.

The "balloon" lamp shade got covered with a crayfish net which I purchased at the Rope Shop.  It was just the right size!

I needed something for the basket under the balloon structure and went on a shopping spree at Mambo's plastic store where I came home with a waste paper basket, some fly swatters and plastic spoons as well as a some polystyrene balls.

I then went to the Rope shop where I got the various bits to hold it all together with.

My last stop was the hardware store for 2 dowel sticks and wing nuts and bolts.

I made this airship in two parts so that transporting it was relatively easy and the wings and balls on the dowel sticks were assembled once it was in-situe.

This was the test run in my carport.

Here is the gondola being built on my desk.

This is a better shot of the gondola, though it is very hard to photgraph.

I designed and cut some "wings" from foam core and originally thought they would go in the same direction, but then later made them alternate so that it looked more interesting and like she was spinning.

These are how I initially designed the wings to go.

It spent some time languishing in the courtyard while my dear hubby put up the high tension cable.  We needed to do this as we had no idea where the beams were inside the ceiling.

This is the before and after shot from below!