Monday, July 30, 2018

Garden Flowers – Part 2

The flowers for this garden are created from flower beads. You might recognize that right away. I chose them for their translucence. I will show you why as we go along.

First though, I wanted a variety of lilies. I began with some calla lilies. Choosing colors was a challenge because I wanted some that would be striking but also complement the others in the set. And work within my plan.

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I also wanted to vary their size and height. These were going to be placed in the back being the largest. Here I have them in a row assembling several of them at a time. The wire is an LED light and it was very, very delicate.  Hence the need for translucence.

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Pink and white lilies were next.

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Here is a small box lid edge to edge with flowers being glued on their stems.

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The following photo had the first flowers I nervously placed first. It’s one of those things where you just have to hold your breath and hope all goes well. After that, it’s just more of the same progressing from the tallest in the back to the shortest in the front.

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At one time this garden was only accessible if you had a key to the gate. So there had to be a gate. And I had to make it. This was one step that turned out much easier than I anticipated. I used a thick piece of metal rod to form the shape and then covered it with wire mesh. After that it was all paint and details to get the rusted effect.

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Eventually I arrived at a point where I needed to add the base. This was one of those moments where I felt like it could easily go all wrong in a heartbeat.

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These last few photos are detail photos. This first one is an aerial view of some of the flowers.

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This is the left side of the wall on the back before I added the gate.

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And this is the right side with a vine growing up.

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Here is the gate in place on the back of the wall.

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That completes all the construction photos. My next post will show the finished piece where it all comes together.

As always, thanks again for reading!

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Saturday, July 28, 2018

Started Once, Started Twice

Hello again. I have some photos from a recent project that I thought I would share with you. It seemed like it took ages for me to create this piece but I had a ton of fun figuring out the details.

It started the first time with some foam core and telling myself that these things always begin with a question mark and then sort themselves out.  These are the parts of a foam core and Styrofoam sandwich.  These even look like pieces of bread!

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I kept working on it but I was never quite happy with the direction it was going. It did not look authentic enough to me. Then another project diverted my attention which was another sign that I realize now was an indication that things were not right.

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So much to my chagrin, I decided ‘lesson learned’ and off I went in a different materials direction.

To the waste bin, to the waste bin!

The second beginning, I decided to use Styrofoam only. I was learning as I went but it seemed that I finally had a plan I would be happy with pursuing. In resolving to start over, I failed to take a photo of the untouched Styrofoam, but I think a flat piece of Styrofoam is fairly easy to imagine.

Here’s the basic construction with what I was hoping would turn into a believable stone wall.  This is a view from what will become the back of the piece.

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This shows the side walls a bit.

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Then the painting began.  Layer one was this beige/tan color.

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Then a charcoal/black on top of that.

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Then many and various layers of many and various other colors.

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Here things are beginning to take shape.  I have added a ‘brick’ walkway with moss growing between the bricks.

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The view from above.

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At this point, I began to think of how I could make the garden area look somewhat abandoned while still thriving.  I pulled out different kinds of greenery from my supplies trying different ones until it began to take on the character of the kind of garden I was aiming for.

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With the major part of the structure completed, it was time to move onto the details.  What goes in a garden? Flowers!  I had to create a way to paint these bead caps all at once, hence the funky set up.

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From brass to

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primed to

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a nice shade of green.

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After these dried, it was time to construct some flowers, some very special flowers.  I will share how I put them together in my next post.

Thanks for reading!

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