sbartist : painting in the dark: January 2018

Thursday, January 11, 2018

#Cre8time takes Flight...

Hello friends... Happy NEW YEAR! Today I resharing one of my favorite and most popular makes from last year.

As my health has made itself my main priority, this has left me with a fraction of the time I used to devote to creating with abandon. Now when my muse comes out to play when she is fully rested and rejuvenated... I have found myself creating things with wings and making some fun stuff to accent my studio.

I've had this papier-maché torso lying around for more years than I'd care to admit - I used to have three and I passed two on to friends. I have to admit I was a bit unsure of what to create with this last one since I've had it so long. The possibilities are endless... so I decided to create an altered torso.

I've painted her up with spray paints and StencilGirl stencils and gave her some handmade resin tropical flair and WINGS!

I created several molds using Amazing Mold Putty: an Art Deco style vintage mirror, a hand-carved polymer clay palm leaf, and some interesting shaped shells.

I selected three stencil designs: Art Deco Wallpaper Stencil L319; Tribal Leaves Stencil L213; and Mimosa 6 Stencil S126.

The first thing I did is put a border of clear packing tape around the edges of each stencil, on the front and backside, and burnishing with a bone folder. I remember hearing this trick from another artist and thought it was worth a try -- works for me!

First I added some color to the wood accents on the torso. I used Carbon Gray Varathane Wood Stain - it's easy to apply and dries quick. I never heard of gray wood stain... I happen to love this color and the color it achieved. I have an unfinished wood cabinet that is soon to be tackled with this lovely colored stain.

When this is dry I use some plastic wrap to cover the wooden parts to protect area from spray painting with stencils! I used a coating of Mod Podge Matte finish to seal the papier maché torso in preparation to accept a good layering of spray paint.

I have a bright gloss green and a bright blue which I sprayed alternating in no particular pattern.

After I had a nice base layer, I continued adding color spraying through the stencils. The shapes are organic and look like shadows peeking through palm branches at night.

While the paint is drying, I get on with casting my accent pieces. I brush the inside of each mold with Ocean Blue Alumidust and also mix some into a batch of Amazing Casting Resin. This resin turns an opaque white when cured and with the Alumidust mixed in, it will result in a pretty pale blue.

I always make sure to have extra molds on hand to pour any leftover resin so it doesn't go to waste. This is all of the molds poured with resin cured. I needed two of the mirrors so all the small bits are extras for the rainy-day project bin.

Look at the AMAZING detail in the front and back of each shell cast in resin. The overpour {flashing} tears away pretty easy while resin is still soft and any remaining can easily be trimmed away. I sanded edges with an emory board.

I gave a little shine and brightness to the resin pieces by brushing the high points with Tonic Nuvo Embellishment Mousse. This color is a nice pearly pale blue... perfect for beachy themed projects!

I finished off by adding a section of recycled jewels around the neck to dangle the resin palm leaf and a faceted gem. I crossed the mirror shapes and wrapped with wire to form wings and secured with wrapping wire around the torso. I brushed a little of the spray paint onto the wire to blend it in to the background pattern. I'm so happy with how this looks that I left off the other two shell pieces I prepared {they won't go to waste -- stay tuned}! I hope you love my tropical winged torso as much as I do. She make's a beautiful beachy addition to my creative workspace.

This lady is making a trip to Phoenix, AZ to be on display in the Alumilite Corp./Amazing Casting Products Booth #2214 during Creativation January 20-22, 2018. I'll be demoing all three days, so if you are attending -- drop by and say "HI"!