Evan pulled out another fragment of newspaper from the glue tray and slapped it on the frame. He was almost naked and already covered in glue-splatters, but he wouldn't have it any other way. Paper-mache was inherintly a messy task, so why not enjoy that? Besides, the glue was easier to remove from skin than from clothes.
The sculpture was slowly taking shape. With each piece added, the wire and cardbord frame disappeared and Evan could see his latest vision becoming real. It was a heady feeling. His body was also responding in another way, but he couldn't address that now. Amongst other things, once the glueing was started, it really had to be finished.
He kept pasting onto the structure. This one would be a bit more functional than most, though it was not the first to be shaped to fit a person in it. Hopefully, it would be effective as well. Evan had carefully designed its many sweeping curves and subtle curlicues to hide another purpose, should the purchaser so wish. He particularly liked the sinuous flares and how they made a gaps just the right size and placement for, say, a wrist.
It was later.
The sculpture was now entirely paper-mache, but still drying. It would take a few days to dry completely and it could not be rushed. Evan had cleaned himself up, put on a painting smock and some loose shorts and was painting another sculpture.
"Evan!" Michael bounded up the stairs from the street, appearing in the corner of the vast, cluttered studio space. Evan looked over to him. Michael's round face and dark wavy hair peered exuberantly out from a very outdated brown suit that could have fitted better, especially across his shoulders.
"Hello Michael."
Michael threaded his way easily through the furniture to where Evan was painting.
"That's interesting.Why yellow?"
"Why not yellow?" replied Evan neutrally, as he kept painting, his long face showing only mild amusement.
Like all his work, it was a paper-mache construction. This one was purely decorative, however, and looked like a gentle swirl of half-a-dozen ribbons curving in a vaguely human shape. It was about four feet tall and Evan had put it on a low table to make it easier to paint. Part of it was already painted a deep red; other parts were yellow or still white. Evan was making the white parts yellow.
"I dunno. Did you explain this one to me already? They look so different when painted."
"I may have. Does it look female to you?"
Michael looked for the familiar hips-n-breasts shape. After a minute, he saw it.
"Ah yeah." he grinned in a lop-sided way. "That red loop would be her arse. But I can't see her tits?"
"She's twisted."
"Right " he said again. "Ah yeah," he added after a moment. "So where are her... ah, you saucy devil!" Even smiled. "It looks like she's in a straight-jacket! Whoosh!" He laughed.
"Ever the dirty mind."
"Yep," Michael responded without a hint of shame. He turned to another, smaller sculpture on a nearby bench. It was deep green and seemed to be a ball with top peeled back in multiple pieces. "What's this one meant to be?"
"Put a piece of glass on top and it's a coffee table. It's the sort of thing Amanda keeps finding clients for."
"It looks boring."
"It's supposed to be an egg. Have you ever seen Aliens?"
"Never heard of it."
Evan just snorted in reply.
Michael kept looking around at the studio. This half of the space was clearly a workshop, with a number of old tables and benches littered with newspaper, glue and paint as well as numerous smaller items he couldn't be bothered identifying. There was a disorganised stack of chicken wire and cardboard behind one of them and a collection of larger sculptures in an otherwise open area, some just wire and cardboard, others in various stages of cover.
Evan finished his painting and began cleaning the brush. Michael was looking at the sculpture Evan had been glueing paper onto earlier. It was upright, taller than Michael.
"That one's still drying," Evan called out.
"We could have gotten messy together."
"No," Evan replied firmly. "That would not have worked."
"What a shame. It looks like a plant frozen in paper-mache. Who would buy it?" Evan noticed that Michael was the right height and shape to fit inside the sculpture's embracing arms, except his shoulders were too wide.
"That's your job. Find me buyers and maybe you can finally afford a suit that fits you properly."
"I like my suit. Besides, I've been working on my triceps. And I've got a buyer for that huge blue thing over there, you know."
"It's not for sale."
"You always say that. One day, my friend."
The 'huge blue thing' was by far the largest sculpture in the studio. More than seven feet high and painted in a deep, glossy blue, it basically looked like a giant vase. It had a bulbous base, a smaller bulb and then a tall, slightly flared top. Evan had placed it in the area between the workspace and the living areas, clearly apart from all his other work.
Michael turned to another sculpture nearby. This one was a similar design, but it was much shorter. Evan had already painted it white.
"This one looks like a chair." It was also highly assymetrical with ribbons of white paper-mache sweeping out and around, augmented throughout with little curlicues.
"Funny that. I've made chairs before."
"These little things seem to be a new design for you. Both of these have them."
"I'm experimenting."
"Again?"
"What artist doesn't experiment?" Evan replied as he lounged against a bench, watching Michael with some amusement.
"Is it dry?"
"That one is, yes."
"Cool." With great relish but obvious care, Michael planted his rear into where the curves and swirls resembled a seat, but then kept twisting around looking all over it.
"There seem to be a lot of these little curvy bits."
"There's a reason."
"Well tell me the reason it only has one arm rest," Michael replied with a flourish. The armrest in question had a flare over the top leaving a wrist-size hole.
Evan picked up two small things from the bench nearby.
"It's supposed to have only one arm rest." And with that, he dropped a six-inch bolt down through the end of the curlicue, trapping Michael's right hand.
"Fuck! Wow - nice!" He fiddled with the way the bolt was captured. "But it's still only one arm."
Evan grabbed Michael's left arm and swung it down by his side to where another curlicue was waiting and bolted that, too.
"Not any more." He walked away, leaving Michael to his predicament. Michael's face had a flushed look and he was breathing a bit harder.
"I think I want to buy this."
"You couldn't afford it."
"I know. But I think I could find a buyer. Not sure I could find one who would let me play with it." He waggled his imprisoned arms. "Is this it?"
"How much more do you want?" Evan asked from across the studio.
"Well, my legs are still free. And I'm still clothed," Michael answered lasciviously.
"I had noticed both of those. But I'm not undressing you." Evan pulled a beer out of his fridge and sat down on his couch. He could clearly see Michael some twenty feet across the room, gently testing his bonds.
"Evan...."
"Don't whine. You know I don't like whining." There was a new edge to Evan's voice that sent a thrill down Michael's spine. It was now more than just the jacket that was tight fitting.
"I want to test it. Will it tip over?"
He was torn between wanting to see how secure he was and knowing he could not afford to damage it.
"You probably could. I have some idea of how strong it is. But I didn't want it truly inescapable. That's too difficult."
Evan came back over, picking up some fragments of sculpture much like the chair Michael was in. Michael's attention was devoted to seeing if his right hand could reach the bolt imprisoning his right arm, but it was too far away. So Evan had no trouble slotting the two leg cuffs in and dropping another pair of bolts in place.
"Fuck! You got me again!" He said. His arousal was painfully obvious. "Ooh I'd love you to do me..."
"There is a gap in the back for that purpose. But I'm not undressing you."
Michael grunted a sound of frustration.
"Careful." Evan said.
"Or what?"
At that point, a female voice was heard from Evan's stairs.
"Evan, you left your front door open again."
"Oh no. It's the girlfriend." Michael said, his voice dropping.
"Hello Tegan," Evan called out. "Come on up."
Up the stairs came a rather short woman, her pretty face grinning, framed by curly auburn-hair. And she was very much a woman: Michael could see her green t-shirt was loose everywhere except her breasts and hips. She smirked even harder when she saw Michael.
"Oh I say – you finally manage to pin him down, Evan."
"You know it's not the first time." He gave her a quick kiss, which she turned into a longer one, knowing full well Michael was watching.
Show done, Tegan sashayed her generous curves over to Michael, her short, but full black skirt swaying menacingly.
"Hello Tegan," Michael forced a smile. "I can see your knees. They're a nice contrast with your fat arse."
She put her hands on her hips and leant towards him with a provocative tilt.
"If that's the highlight of your day, then I've got news for you."
"Now, now Tegan," Evan remonstrated gently.
"Why is he still dressed?"
"Why do you still care?" Michael shot back, lightning quick.
"Do I need to ask you to watch your tongue?" Evan asked evenly. He turned to one of the benches and started rummaging for something.
Michael didn't say anything, but his face had a funny expression on it.
"So show me, Evan, I can see you've finally built something practical. What else can it do?" She went around behind it, giving it a good look over. She poked the few square inches of Michael's rump that was hanging through the back. He visibly jumped.
"Oy!"
"What?" she asked innocently.
Evan had found what he was looking for and carried it over to the chair. It seemed to be a spike with a bent handle. Michael eyed it warily, but didn't say anything.
Tegan appeared to have finished her inspection. Her nipples could be seen through her t-shirt.
"There are about a dozen mounting points, all up. I like this one."
Evan pulled out the ankle cuff off Micahel's right leg and bent his knee up. Then he re-inserted the cuff, holding his leg against the same sweep holding up the right armrest.
"I think that would drive me bloody mad, truth be told," Michael said quietly.
"I like," Tegan added. Then she turned to Michael. "And It might do you some good."
"Witch," he instantly responded with only moderate heat. Tegan just kept smirking.
"I believe you've had your warning," Evan suddenly said. He brandished the mysterious spike, only for Michael to realize it was a bit gag designed for the chair he was in. The wooden gag had a long piece of flat metal off one end and there was a shorter piece off of that, opposite the wooden gag itself. He couldn't quite figure out how it worked.
"Shit! Wait! No...!"
Michael tried to turn his head away, however, he couldn't help but turn back again when Evan pushed the long shaft of the gag through the chair's back beside Michael's left cheek, right up to the shorter piece which was now against the back of the chair, preventing it swinging about. This put the wooden gag easily in Michael's mouth. Evan put a bolt through the back where it passed one of his curlicues.
"You did want to try it out, Michael," Evan tried to sound reasonable.
"Look, he's still hard," Tegan pointed out.
"Yes, he is." There was a mmmph from Michael, perhaps an acknowledgement.
"You know, you could do some clever stuff with this design," Tegan said thoughtfully.
"What did you have in mind?"
"Ooh, I dunno. Could you make it more secure?"
"I could. Steel rods would help, as would proper holes for mounting things. But then it would look less like a sculpture. And if it gets too heavy, it gets difficult to move around."
There was a muffled comment from Michael. Evan pulled the gag off.
"That gag is wicked!" Michael said. "But I said what about more conventional bondage things?"
"Paper-mache can be strong, but if you're putting steel in it, you may as well just build things out of steel," Evan replied.
"What about a bed-frame? Or a corset?"
"Oooh..." Tegan's eyes sparkled. "Now that's an intruiging idea."
Evan looked surprised.
"You want a corset?"
"Oh yes. A locking one. They're so expensive, but. Unless you can make me one!"
"I hate to break up the fun times, but I should be going. Evan, if you could be so kind?" Michael asked with exagerated deference.
"Do you think he can be trusted, Evan?" Tegan gave a wicked chuckle.
"He is getting my bigger stuff sold, even the non-commissioned works." Evan removed the leg cuffs.
"And I can sell that big blue thing."
Evan paused in the act of removing a wrist bolt.
"Well, I can," Michael said defensively. "Someone has offered over fourteen thousand."
Tegan looked lost for words.
"It's not for sale," Evan repeated as he finished freeing Michael, who stood up and tried to straighten his jacket.
"Thank's for letting me try the chair out, Evan. I'll see myself out." He casually saluted Evan and made his way over the stairs and headed down.
"Take care, Michael."
"I always take care!"
"Fourteen thousand?" Tegan said quietly, when she thought he was gone.
"I'm not selling it. Not even if I was offered fourteen million."
"I think I can get someone to offer a million," called out Michael from the stairwell.
"Goodbye, Michael," Evan called out firmly.
The reason Evan usually gave for not selling his prize sculpture was that it was his first large piece and the fact it turned out so well was enough to keep it. It had also become identified with him and his work and he'd put it on his business cards.
Truth be told, it was indeed the first floor-standing piece he finished.
After dabbling with small, desk-sized pieces, Evan had been introduced by a friend to the possibilities of using paper-mache on large balloons. He had already experimented with using party balloons, and was initially quite enamoured at the possiblities but was dissatisfied with their limited sizes.
After a little searching, he had found on the Internet some much larger ballons in a variety of shapes and sizes. It was the huge doll-shaped balloons which gave him the idea. First he found a balloon which inflated nearly spherical. At nearly two feet across, it set the scale. It was easy to make a small cardboard base and then he started gluing Once it was fully covered, he added another cardboard ring and put on top a large doll-shaped balloon, but with the 'head' down. At roughly seven feet high, it was clearly the largest scuplture Evan had ever attempted. He got excited every time he thought about it.
The paper-mache soon reached the top and another cardboard ring gave him a nice flared top. After it was thoroughly dry, and removing the doll-shaped balloon and a little careful cutting in the top, it was ready to paint. It was at that point some friends discovered it and the interest in Evan's paper-mache sculptures took off. The blue was an obvious choice, all things considered.
He eventually made other vases. But never in blue. And he would never sell that first one.
You see, he never did get that large round balloon out. It wasn't because it was in the bottom of a seven-foot paper-mache vase. And It wasn't because he had paper-mached it completely in. It was partly because there was another, smaller balloon inside it. And it was partly because inside that one was a little paper-mache ball, no more than an inch across.
But it was mostly because inside that little paper-mache ball was a brass key. And that little brass key was the only key for a small, secure padlock that was very close to Evan's heart. Though perhaps 'heart' was not the right word, as the padlock secured a rather expensive piece of metal now irremovably fixed around his waist, and between his legs.
21.05.10