DaVinci Ladies, But Not Mona!

Today's 4 X 4 Friday theme is DaVinci Ladies, other than Mona. 

I chose Leonardo's "Study of Woman", printed it on matte photo paper, cropped, cut, clipped corners and backed on dark gray cardstock. 

The really fun part of this piece was that I got to use a couple of items I got at last August's Art Unraveled:  Blue Scrap Metal from Once Upon A Scribble, and a border mold from Ten Seconds Studio, and on top of that, I used a technique that I was introduced to last night at a make and take.

I cut the metal sheet to 3.5" X 3.5", rounded the corners to prevent cuts, and placed it on the border mold.  After pressing it into place with my fingers, I used a paper stump (available at any art supply where pastels are sold) to rub around the image to define it.  Ten Seconds Studios makes Teflon tools specifically for this purpose, but I made my own tool to further define the image.  I ask my friends to save their wine corks- -especially the new, non-cork kind that are made out of rubbery plastic from some California and Chilean vineyards.  They carve very nicely with X-acto knives, and I usually use them in making home-made stamps.  This time, I shaved the ends to a point like a dull pencil.  The faux cork is easy to hold on to, and the home-made tip is great for pressing into curves and corners to define a metal-embossed image.  The plastic type of pencil top erasers also work well for this and provide a broader base for smoothing out the metal.  The only draw-back to the eraser top is that it may rub the color off of tinted metal sheets.  I found that the color scratches and rubs off pretty easily, so be careful if you want to preserve the color and not let the underneath natural metal show through.  I didn't care about this since my plan was to distress and antique the piece.

Next, I added Staz-on black with a tiny piece of crumpled paper towel to antique and distress.  Then, I turned the piece over on a piece of waxed paper and filled-in the back with Spackle applied with a popsicle stick.  It dried in about 1/2 hour, and it does chip easily, so I put a thin layer of Diamond Glaze over it for the dual purpose of sealing the Spackle and sticking the piece to a square of cardstock 1/8" bigger all around.  I let this partially dry and harden (about 1/2 hour), then used double-stick tape around the edges to adhere this piece to a 4 X 4 piece of cardstock.  Last, I stuck the photo to the frame using dimensional tape.

The Spackle prevents the piece from becoming un-embossed, and is especially necessary if you plan to mail it or handle it in any way that might bend it.  It does add a little extra weight, which is something you might consider if you plan to use this in an over-seas swap.  Postage will be a bit more expensive.

Here is a corner detail.  This piece took me several hours to complete, but remember, it was my first.  I think future pieces of this size and complexity could be reasonably completed within an hour, minus the drying time for Spackle and Diamond Glaze.

Have a great weekend, Everyone!

Comments

[Barbara]

wonderful Barbara once again, great color and technique. I won a bunch of the Ten Seconds tools and I don't used them all that much but I did have a good time playing with them when I did. Great job on the homemade tools.

[Lisa]

Barbara, this is an outstanding piece! Beautiful!!

[femmy]

amazing background!!! love it very much!!

[cleo]

this looks so great, its a really stunning work

[Silvia]

Wow, such a fantastic background, looks really great, love the colours and the texture. Beautiful image.

[Rosie]

Barbara what a stunning piece. Love the way you put it all together - thanks for sharing your creative process!The tip about the wine 'corks' was particularly enlightening - may come in handy for the future!
Hugs, Rosie

[Kelly B]

beautiful 4 x 4s!

[maryanne]

WOW fantastic. Thanks for the info on how you made it.

[Sharon (Glitterangel)]

Wow, absolutely fabulous work, I love it!

[Amanda]

Beautiful work - love the blue scrap metal. Also thank you for the details of the technique you used. I will be trying it out soon!