An Assemblage for a friend

I finished this assemblage last night, but it was too late to photograph it. Today isn't much better, because it is cold and overcast. The piece is 11 X 17 not counting the six inch hanger made of baling wire.

I'm not totally sure which of these photos produced the truest color, but none do it justice.

I began with my favorite Kelly Rae Roberts background technique. I used two inch squares for the background, then dry brushed gesso over the top. I completed the background with lime dye ink and my swirl stamp. The substrate is five flat rate USPS envelopes glued together. I needed that many so the middle seam wouldn't bend.

I used some of my old eyeglasses I had been given and eyes from various magazines. I used UHU Twist and Glue to hold the paper to the metal. These took about half a day to dry properly and the substrate had taken about two days to dry. This was not a project that could be finished quickly.

A single orange lens and two tiny eyes buttons gifted me by Carol in FL were the next embellishments. I used my silver leafing pen and changed some vinyl stick on letters from blue to silver and added them to the orange lens.

My friend Theresa gave me a box of letters and I've been putting them to good use. I only had one "E" left and needed four for this project. I had lots of eggs, though, since this was an Easter basket of alphabets and eggs. I cut the "E's" from the eggs and colored everything using my silver leafing pen. The letters are spongy and sucked up the leafing, so it's not as shiny as it would have been had it been a non-porous surface.

When I make handmade paper, I always have some left over that I have to get rid of. I can't keep the pulp and water over a day in the hot Kansas weather, so, instead of simply throwing it out, I have taken old window screens and turned the waste into very heavy background papers. I used this for the back of the piece.

You can see all the texture I created in this one. I purposely didn't want it smooth. Finally, I added silver HVAC tape around the edges to hide all the layers.

Thankfully, this gift is finished. I now have one final gift to make, then I'll be finished.