Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Ma Petit Chou




This just in! My little 2-hour hinged box of upcycled burnt tin from Marlene True's class over the weekend at The Ranch.  Soundtrack, please.

If you want to really upcycle tin, and treat it like pure gold, Marlene's the one to see.  This box began with her pattern cut from a disassembled old whiskey bottle tin. I wasn't enamored of the orange, green and yellow 60s fridge color theme, so when Marlene suggested I torch it, that is just what I did.  And oh, the suble color play and sweet patina that resulted.  Such a great improvement.




Next, oh what to do with such a pretty little, somewhat torqued outta shape little thing? Well, paper over it for starters. But that all started with a wonderful seed catalog ad from The Modern Priscilla, February 1916, collaged to plastic cut from a putty knife, and covered with lovely mica. Still, it seemed a bit underwhelming, but it popped when I used some text behind the oval, and the interplay between the text shaded by the shiny mica and the text as-is introduced some action. At that point, I decided it had to be a brooch, my favorite kind of jewelry to make and wear, especially because the scale is large for that use, but the box has a deceptive simplicity.




Next, I remembered those old corked vials of seeds Randi gave me, after her trip to Haystack in Maine, home of some of the best found goodies ever.


Et voila!  I have a wonderful little wearable wunderkammer.  And this one's mine, all mine.  Besides, I have a way to go before I can fabricate a box that is True-true, untorqued and unwonky.  Meanwhile, I have learned to measure twice and cut once.  A hint for you folks who want to try using the beautiful tin:  use hair-fine sawblades, at least 6/0, and be prepared to break a few getting the hang of it.  Better yet, sign up for one of Marlene's workshops.  What you learn will go straight from class to your work bench, guaranteed.  You can't beet that.

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