It Would Take a Man 600 Years...

By Amanda Marks

If you did not get the quote you have never seen the movie Shawshank Redemption with Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman (highly recommended if you have not seen it).  Christmas is just around the corner and I have been working frantically on Christmas gifts for friends and family which leads me to this design team project.  I can not guarantee that there won't be Shawshank quotes throughout this posts.

What do you get for guy friend who has everything?  My husband said it would be cool if you could replicate something from a movie.  The wheels instantly started turning because I have already made him the TIME Man of the Year Mirror from The Big Lebowski.  My husband started to quote Shawshank, which is not uncommon in my house and I knew I had to make the "Bible" with the rock hammer cut out.  Don't worry I did not cut a Bible (my husband would not let me buy a bible to cut up).  So I had to go to plan B which was taking an old Thesaurus and cutting the shape of a rock hammer into the Thesaurus.  I had no idea that cutting the same shape into repeated pages would be this time consuming (I went through 6 Exacto Knife Blades).  It took me close to 3 hours to cut all of the pages I needed.  I will say disposing of my evidence was much easier than toting it out to the yard a handful at a time.

Since the rock hammer would not work without the altered "bible" the pictures of the "Faux" Bible are first.

Not mine but what I wanted mine to look like.

 The Thesaurus as you can see I spilled coffee on it when I was in college so it was well used.

 Three hours worth of work and a huge mess.

I distressed the book with sand paper and paint.  I added a little Tim Holtz Tea Dye Ink to the outside to really age the book cover.

I needed a rock hammer to go on the inside of the book and removable but not change the weight of the book.    What better way to show off the versatility of Creative Paperclay® Modeling Material than to make a rock hammer for my book (I am hoping the people at Creative Paperclay® are Shawshank fans).  The rock hammer was actually really easy took more time to dry than to create and paint.  I also forged the inside message Andy wrote to the Warden (I am actually quite proud of that) because honestly it would not work with out that message.

Once again not mine but my inspiration

Materials:
Styrofoam (I used flower Styrofoam)
Dowel Rod
Exacto Knife
Sharpie® Marker
Aluminum Foil
Creative Paperclay® Modeling Material
Fondant Roller
Sculpting Tool
End of an unsharpened pencil
Paint

1.  Cut foam in shape of a rock hammer.  If you use the template for the book keep in mind the foam should be at least 1/4" smaller than the template.

2.  Cut dowel to fit in book and also have about 1" inside the foam.  Push dowel inside the foam.

3.  Cover the foam and dowel with tinfoil.  This will help adhere the clay to the base without seperation.

4.  Roll out clay.  Cover the base with clay.  Refine add detail - to recreate the nails in the rock hammer take an unsharpened pencil end and push down, repeat on the other side trying to line up as closely as possible.  Allow to dry for 24 hours.

5.  Paint rock hammer to resemble the rock hammer in the movie. 

I guess really you do need one of these in order for it to work...