mummification, day 2

 

All the tools and materials responded just as I remembered except I couldn't get the lid off the jar of liquid matte medium so I gouged a nice little hole in it, poured what I needed, and plugged it with tape when I was finished. No studio should be without a roll of duct tape.

The heavy matte gel is as thick as library paste. The kind that was so tasty in elementary school. I only needed it for the edges and in places where the cloth was three or four layers deep.  It's easy to thin to whatever consistency is called for.

I stayed away from the bright white stitching. The stitch lines stayed crisp.

The damasks soaked the medium up like kitty litter.

I was even able to convince that uneven edge that closer to a right angle would be more pleasing to the eye.

This piece will be ready for its photoshoot tomorrow.

the process

"The Bruised Heart" will be my first guinea pig. Finished back in the Fall, it's my favorite from the year. October, when the country seemed to be eating itself like the Ouroboros. We were all wound up pretty tight, especially here in Georgia.

I still haven't settled on the orientation for this one. My perennial problem, deciding which end is up.

This is the easy part. I've left the edges of the finished piece loose so I can fiddle the edges into line when I start working the gel medium into the cloth. 

I'll keep going back to the tutorial so I won't forget all the little nuances that I worked with and around all those years ago.

Being mindful of how the next step can darken the cloth. 

Slowly. slowly.

I have a lot of detail shots of this piece to document how it will change. See just how much I can control. And how much the cloth will do what it will.

Kill your darlings, they tell all writers. The scene that inspired this piece lives on. Dark and dangerous. A switch tripped for the main characters. Everyone right at the place of no return. 

 

so, anyway...

 

Before anything else, Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell has totally sucked me in.  

Late last night I finished reading a scene that went on for three pages before I realized I was reading a love scene. When it was over, I clapped the book shut in despair. That's how I should have written it. Damn, it was delicious and she never even took off her boots.

Yesterday's post all full of bluster about what would go on today? Such hubris to have written it. The piece I wanted to work with is much larger than any of the canvases I have on hand. I need to go back to Goodwill to score something large enough to carry it. 

On a side note, I went there for the first time in a year. Scored a Ralph Lauren flat sheet that will become the first tablemopper of the new dye season when the sun finally graces these parts. 

Instead, I spent a little time prepping this one. It needed a piece of light batting to keep the finished piece off the canvas. Give it a little dimensionality. That was cut, fit, and stitched into place in no time.

Know your tools.

Light a Fire

 

I've been walking in some pretty tight circles lately. It's time to shake things up, day by day. As the interview said, "Someday is here."

There is nothing more aggravating to me than having all the materials for a project on hand and not even coming up with an excuse for not getting on with it, so, tomorrow I'm going to get this one mounted on canvas, fiber mummy style.

Has it really been eleven years since I first tried this? I have a half dozen pieces in the closet that turned out great that never got the marketing they deserve.

Something else to be remedied because it's coming up on time that I need to get that shit rolling.

But first, the work. 

My backbones

...according to the MRI and the doctor, are some decrepit shit. 

I won't bore you with all the medical jargon. My own eyes glazed over after fifteen seconds. No Shit!

I'm three inches shorter than I used to be and can hardly stand up straight or walk any length of time. 

The good "But" came next. There is stuff to be done for it that does not involve surgery or shots. Good stuff. Aquatic therapy! (Did she notice my webbed feet and gills, you think?) Chiro, core training, drugs. Did I mention drugs?  

All of this leading to a positive improvement dependent on my diligence. I'm so diligent. So That nonsense dealt with, the audiology tests upcoming and hearing aids likely. I may be ready for the Marines by my next birthday.

Until then, I could not have gotten through this week without the help of my crew, my darlings. I'd hold an award show, but I know how y'all are.