Zookeeper's Diary

September 12th, 1997

 

I'm not sure how long ago I had the idea of creating a miniature zoo, but work has finally begun!

 

I had told Hogan about my childhood dream of making the little zoo, using my mom's discarded strawberry baskets and the assortment of toy animals I had on hand. It was a dream that surfaced repeatedly as strawberries were consumed by my big family. Hogan thought the idea curious and “sweet”. This summer, while we were browsing in her favorite hobby supplies store, she noticed a set of animals that were realistic enough and sweet enough that she thought.They might do for me. When I saw them, I thought they were perfect….and the 20 animals we bought that day became the core collection of our miniature zoo

 

Hogan pestered me the rest of the day…. ”Aren't you going to make your zoo this weekend?”.... She was surprised and she admits now-a little skeptical when I described to her that my idea was to make the little zoo a life long project… A slow, incremental, steady kind of thing. But, she still thought the idea sweet and signed on.(Thank God! What would the zoo be without her?!)

 

Mom has been happy to supply us with plastic strawberry baskets, which we can convert into various cages.

 

Each figure in the core collection costs $0.99 and was made in China. We loved them for their exquisite detail and realistically painted features. Hogan thinks some of them, however, will need repainting and darkening touch-ups for their details to stand out in the zoo exhibit settings.

 

September 20th, 1997.

 

The American Bald Eagle exhibit….Our first exhibit. This one was started only a few weeks after acquiring our core collection, and another collection of endangered North American animals that came in a plastic tube.

 

We still reminisce about the day when Hogan was puttering with some chores and I walked in with one of the bald eagles perched on a twig, which I had poked through a strawberry basket.The look on Hogan's face was of such  delight, surprise and eagerness, that I knew she finally “got” what my idea of a miniature zoo was all about! Since then, she has been on a constant search for natural, manmade and Hogan-made objects to serve as trees, rocks, cliffs, etc, as well as for little animals that fit the scale of the zoo(slightly larger than O-gauge–the people are about two inches tall).

 

The trees in the bald eagle exhibit are plastic Norway Spruce trees from an antique toy Store in Hampden, MD. Fish tank gravel served for mulch and tiny pine cones were found under some pine trees in the neighborhood. The plaque is a pressed penny with a bald eagle from the Baltimore Zoo in Maryland.

 

October 16th, 1997

 

The Polar Bear Exhibit was created shortly after the Bald Eagle Exhibit and was the second one we made. The pool is a frozen dinner tray filled with clear casting resin. We used a selection of natural stones found on the shore at Cape May, New Jersey when Hogan wandered away, looking for a more secluded (and peaceful) stretch of beach. We love these stones for their softened, sand-worn smoothness, and for their stackable flatness. The twin bears we were delighted to find in the collection of plastic bears at a camping supply/army surplus store. Their pressed penny is from the Baltimore Zoo.

 

Other additions to polar bears: 11/97… another small bear acquired from the Central Park Zoo gift shop in New York City. 12/97….we found another bear at a local toy shop In Roland Park, Maryland.

 

November 15th, 1997.

 

We've begun work on the Panda Exhibit. This is the first one made with Papier-mâché. I constructed a chicken wire frame, using twist-ties to connect parts of the wire which otherwise might pull apart. Then we reinforced the frame with masking tape and glue to give the paper something to hold on to. (We mixed glue and water soaked newspaper strips, then stretched them across the frame.) We painted the rocks with acrylic paint after priming the newspaper with gesso.

 

Hogan made the bonsai tree from wires she twisted then spray painted. Then, she hot glue-gunned on purple fish tank gravel pieces for leaves…a miniature Maple tree!

 

The white rocks are from stones we found in the Baltimore Zoo parking lot.

 

The Birch trees are handmade from dried flowers pulled together with floral tape and some twigs for reinforcement and spray painted green. The branches were hand painted white with black accents.

 

Future plans for the pandas include: maybe constructing a Japanese Torii, finishing the grass floor and more trees.

 

The pandas were acquired in three phases: The climbing panda was donated by my sister Monica, the reclining panda was found in the antique/junk store near OhioPyle, Pennsylvania and restored by Hogan, and the walking panda was from the Army surplus bears we Found previously.

 

January 25th, 1998.

 

We've completed work on this second exhibit featuring strawberry baskets, the tiger habitat. This one was made from three baskets, (a “compound strawberry basket” design!). It is landscaped with one of Hogan's handmade Birch trees, a Papier-mâché rock group and sawdust grass, spray painted green. The chain is from a cheap necklace bought in a hobby store, mounted on cut dowels. The Cave in the back is a refurbished (re-painted) fast food Kiddy meal Flintstones cave set. Foliage in the cave is from a fake flower set, the limb is natural and the tiger cooling pool is cut out from the plywood base and filled with clear casting resin. The plaque is a pressed penny from the I-95 rest stop in Delaware with a picture of a Siberian tiger pressed into it.

 

The clawing tiger is from the core collection, repainted. The climbing tiger is from a generic bag of animals, repainted and the prowling tiger in the back is from the Cape May County Zoo gift shop.The zoo worker is a British circus figure painted by Hogan to wear the official zoo colors purple and green.

 

January 28th, 1998.

 

The camel and ostrich exhibits are finished. The picket fence is from a hobby store, and the shelter is constructed from cardboard and Papier-mâché. The ostriches were found in the antique and junk store, repainted, and later replaced with better ones from a set made in England.

 

We took our Camel and Ostrich exhibits to Erie, PA to show it to Patti, Joe and Bobby, (John's sister and brother-in-law). They think it odd of us to carry our zoo with us on trips! But, the trip wouldn't have been the same without them along to show off!! We made these two at the same time. The camels are from the core collection. John constructed the fencing around the plywood base from popsicle sticks and dowels and the pergola also. The ivy on the pergola is from oven-hardened clay and floral wire. The palm trees and coconuts are made from oven baked clay and the trunks are unopened pine cones. The pyramid, John constructed from cardboard and we covered it with Papier-mâché, then textured with–of all things–toilet paper (fresh, of course).

 

March 1998.

 

The Toucan Exhibit:  Sculptured with oven baked polymer clay and painted with acrylics, we fashioned these colorful toucans (favorites of the zoo keeper) in March 1998.  Their green metal enclosure was purchased at a neighborhood dollar store

 

April 7th, 1998.

 

We've just done our best Papier-mâché exhibit so far…for the rhinoceros. The small twin rhinos are from the core collection and the Indian rhinos were found at the yard sale and repainted by Hogan. (What we're finding is that the toy animals this small are usually painted–probably hurriedly–and some third world country, with red dots somewhere on the nose for eyes, etc.) The small white doves were donated by our friends, Laura and Mike.

 

The enclosure we painted with a wash technique, which looks more realistic to us. The wood is natural, found at Loch Raven, outside Baltimore, where we run on Saturday mornings with our friend, Anne. The metal plaque is a pressed penny from the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk, VA.

 

August 4th, 1998.

 

We've begun work on the Sea Lions Exhibit. This will be the first one to include electric lights, park benches, painted sidewalks and painted masonry

 

September 28th, 1998

 

As we continue to acquire animals, we have realized that sometimes we may find animals better suited for our exhibits, animals in better positions, and animals we can look at to make our own or to make better photographs with.

 

(Making a set of photographs of exhibits has become a passion of ours..that originally sprung from John's insight that one of his favorite experiences with the zoo is simply having it around to look at…. and when he’d considered sharing it with the local zoo or a children's library, etc., he thought it would be nice to have a little book or set of prints to look at.)

 

As we took various photographs of the zoo, we found that the magic of this little zoo sometimes is greatly enhanced by seeing it through the eyes of a camera….same thing goes for looking at it through binoculars…though John doesn't like me to advertise that he has spent a significant number of weekend hours doing just this!... What a sweetie.

 

November 11th, 1998.

 

The sea lion exhibit is finished. The pool is constructed from a cardboard base, Papier-mâché construction with toilet paper texturing, rubber tubing from a screen door we used for the rim. The sea lion was embedded in casting resin. We put plastic wrap inside the pool on top of Pebbles then poured the casting resin in, which created an agitated water appearance. The pebbles and plastic wrap were removed later. (This procedure…better described as an “ordeal” by both of us, required three pourings secondary to leakage, needing to use larger stones to get the appearance we wanted, etc.)

 

The mound for the trees and the islands in the pool were made from Papier-mâché over chicken wire for the islands and over clay and toilet paper for the mountain. That stand of magical trees came from the tips of non-poisonous sumac, plucked from wild trees along the roadside, which were hardened by a combo of hair spray and glue-water spray, then spray painted green. The trunks were then hand painted brown. Laura and Mike donated the ducks. 

 

December 14th, 1998.

 

Construction has begun the Penguin exhibit. The penguins were made Months ago by Hogan, who hand painted them after making them from oven-hardened clay. They are in all sorts of positions and sizes. She even made two that appear to be swimming and two that look like they're about to get in the water.She also made a little igloo, using the air-hardening mixture of volcanic ash and Papier-mâché, which she pressed into a wine glass to get a perfect shape. Then after it hardened, she scraped the ice blocks into it with a screwdriver.It was painted white, then pearlized with a pearlizing agent.The penguins have been waiting a long time for their frozen home! We know this exhibit will delight zoo visitors, because not only do we have these cute little penguins, but we plan to place them in an Arctic setting complete with snow-capped mountains, ice floe and swimming penguins. John is sure he can do it. He has an idea. Our goal is for this exhibit to consist entirely of items created by the zookeepers themselves…..nothing store-bought except for the electric elements and raw materials.

 

December 6th, 1999.

 

The Penguin exhibit is complete! The Penguins are swimming underneath the slab of casting resin leftover from the not-good-enough attempts we made for the sea lion exhibit. The enclosure was made from the now-familiar chicken wire base and Papier-mâché construction, painted with a wash technique (acrylic) to look mountainous. This is our first exhibit with moving animals, this accomplished by John, using a piece of wire suspended on a rotating Christmas ornament holder…..all this suspended inside from the chicken wire with a twist-tie. The movement is simply magical…. quiet, smooth….and visible to zoo goers through an underwater viewing area covered with rigid clear plastic. The rims of the pool are a combination of a strip of oven-hardened clay, oven-hardened bricks and a piece of cardboard box strapping.

 

March 22nd, 2000.

 

We are pleased to have begun work on the Indian Elephant Exhibit. We've been dreaming about this one since my mother gave us a set of brass goblets. Hogan turned one upside down and said “look at this!”  and we both saw the possibilities for a beautiful brownish-golden metal dome, Taj Mahal fashion for the Indian elephants. We already had one Indian elephant, an old diecast metal antique one from the English made set of zoo and circus animals, which we found at an antiques toy and train store in Hampden, Maryland. It was crushed on one side and in bad disrepair. I filled her out with wood putty and Hogan repainted her….so much for the antique value…. She looks great. Then we found a large wooden Indian elephant at an antique and junk store near Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Hogan painted him to match, along with a little rubber baby Indian elephant from a yard sale, to make a cute little, (or should I say big…in zoo scale?) family.

 

After a prolonged period of creative incubation and a trip to Sarasota, Florida, where we were inspired by viewing the Ringling Brothers family summer home/palace, (the ca’d’Zan). I began construction using all recycled objects: eye rinse bottles, matchboxes, a cardboard box for holding photos and cardboard dowels that had held spools of fax paper. All were covered with Papier-mâché and toilet paper for textured and painted by 

Hogan.

 

April 28, 2000.

 

Hogan has done more work on the Indian elephant exhibit: she's working her magic with oven baked clay, adding ornate features to the basic structure to give it more of an Indian/tropical look.