Ta-daa!

The artists, from left, Tom Linfield, Aimee Reid-Rice, Dana Slowiak and Gary N-ski.

Presenting Long Tall Sally!

Sally's final work day on Saturday, April 10 was her grout day. We came prepared with bagels, ribs (the food kind), gloves, grout, and excitement.

We first finalized our grout selection. We chose the Mapei Keracolor S (sanded) grout with polymer on recommendations. Grout color samples are hard to read. Is the color on the swatch really the color we want? We thought we wanted a color between white and biscuit, so we thought mixing the two would work. After mixing small samples of both colors, we decided the biscuit looked great on its own. The lesson learned was to always experiment! We didn't want our final decision to be wrong. The color of a grout and how it interacts with the piece as a whole is not a light decision.

We started mixing grout and smearing it onto Sally. From start to finish, covering her from head to toe took just under two hours. (We taped off her eyes, nostrils, inner ears, mane, tail tip, and hooves, the areas we decided to paint, not mosaic, to protect them from the grout.) We mixed the grout in small batches, so three people continuously smeared while another mixed. Once we had all the grout on her, we started wiping back the first layer of excess grout, and we then wiped back more with a damp sponge. Once the grout was dry, we polished her with dry sponges and cloth, so that all of her glass shimmered.

We then painted her eyes, nostrils, inner ears, mane, tail tip, and hooves. We used glossy outdoor paint. (All of our decisions about everything put onto Sally were driven with the knowledge that she could be outside, and she needs to withstand the elements.) We spent some time experimenting with sparkles for here eyes.

After 1,000 hours of work, she is ready to move onto her next savanna!

She will soon be bubble-wrapped, put onto a truck, and driven to the Overture Center, where she will make her public debut for The Lion King!







And here is Sally moving out of the basement, her long-time home, onto new frontiers.