Thursday, May 13, 2010

Chrysalis

The idea of a chrysalis has been on my mind for a while so I decided to try that idea with some mixed media fiber art. I had a general plan and knew I wanted it to be different from anything I had done before. I wanted to try some different techniques that would be out of my comfort zone. Below is a wire armature with a paper / celluclay molded face.
   
  I molded the celluclay face over a light wire armature then waited for it to dry. This was the first time I worked with celluclay but I can see it is a great medium I will use to add depth to future pieces.   Below is the finished piece.              
    
I covered the wire armature with batting the used my hand dyed gauze to cover and mold around that. I wanted to keep with organic, natural colors of nature so there are different shades of greens, browns and golds. To add some color punch I wrapped pipe cleaners with brighter colors and attached those.   Below is a close up of the face.

   I covered the celluclay with many layers of tissue paper using a matte gel medium. The hair is moss, root and lichen I found on my property. I wove some pieces of the dyed gauze in also.  Below is a side view that shows the wrapped pipe cleaners and green dyed gauze. You can click on the photos to enlarge.                             

2 comments:

Yvonne said...

All I can say is your art just get better and better Lana. Your artistic talent shines through on this one. I just love it. How big is it anyway? I've never heard of celluclay, but looks interesting. Is it like paperclay that dries in the air? Love how y ou used the moss and lichen from your place.

Debbie Geistweidt said...

REALLY FABULOUS. I'm glad that you went outside your comfort zone because it looks like this is your zone. You need to use that celluclay more. Debbie G.