Monday, September 18, 2017

Sun #10

The card that I drew for this month's sun was "Use some metal". I was excited because this is one that I had been hoping to get. I envisioned curly rays made out of copper wire.

Welllllll....it turned out to be challenging at every step, but then that is how we learn. I thought I would use either the inside of a soda can or the burnished bottom of an aluminum take out container for the face. Neither worked. No matter how much I tried to get the soda can to unroll, it wouldn't. I glued it to the blue fabric and weighed it down with a few heavy books and all that did was make the fabric curl up with the metal.

I tried burnishing the bottom of the aluminum container and I get couldn't get it totally smooth. What I did use was the lid of the container. It was white cardboard with a silver lining and of course I used the silver side. That worked out great, although anything I used to mark the face would wipe right off, so I sprayed it with a clear acrylic spray.


It was even hard to photograph. That turquoise and pink on the face are the reflections of my turquoise iPhone and my pink shirt.



Here are the true colors shot on my worktable, not head-on.



I used the pleated sides of the container for the short rays. I had sewn the face down about a quarter of an inch away from the edge. Then I was able to tuck the rays under the face to sew them down right next to the edge.

The wires were hand sewn on. The copper springs were hard to do since my thread kept getting caught in the wires. Same thing with the bronzy coils. I painted the eyes and lips with metallic powders mixed with acrylic medium, then more clear fixative on top.

All in all I am pleased with the results. I am all caught up and this is not due until the end of October because of the show my group is putting on. More about that in another post.

I'm linking up with Off the Wall Friday. Go see what some talented people are up to.

3 comments:

Heather Pregger said...

What a fun piece! Worth every bit of the challenge making it!

Sarah said...

Well you definitely rose to the challenge, it's turned out really well.

Regina B Dunn said...

Love it. Are you submitting it to CBS Sunday Morning? You should. They will probably use it.