This all started with a trip to the beach and a thrift store (you know how I love thrift stores). Even with all my art supplies and ideas waiting in the hotel room, I could not help picking up a smallish, silver plated tray with a cutout decorative edge. And per usual, a book that I could disassemble, if the need arose. Our day of sightseeing having come to an end, I settled in to play with my new finds. Having no clear plan, which is highly irregular for me, I ripped and attached paper using wire through the edge cutouts. I knew from the beginning that it was not working, but with no mental direction I kept trudging down this unfulfilling path. I kept right on until I had that whole tray filled with hand ripped paper. Knowing it was a hot mess I showed it to BFF, hoping for a different perspective and maybe an "Oh Wow, That looks great!!"...no, she squinched her nose and said "Hum"...more of the reaction I was expecting. After the two days of manhandling this downtrodden piece I chucked it in my art bag and moved on to a project that was more to my liking. This was the state it sat in for a year and a half. Another shelf mocker. As with the others mockers, I would pick it up now and again and move it around hoping for inspiration. Not much hope for this one.
One afternoon I heard the forlorn piece calling that it was ready to come out and play. Ok...lets see where you want to go. The first thing was to lessen the amount of paper I had crammed onto the platter, so I removed an inch thickness from both the front and back letting the rest of the paper fall into place with a more open feel. Next I addressed the top of the pages by cutting them into a softer shape and highlighting them with blue chalk, taking away the previous rough square design. That is when the piece shouted its plan and off we went. Of course it needed to have some movement like the other completed shelf mockers. I knew what I wanted to happen...to have both the ship and the crescent moon rock left and right independently at their own pace. To add more mental thought, they needed to be off center of each other so they were not in a straight line...boat in the middle as the central point and the moon off to the side to fill the visual space on the right. A wire mechanism needed to somehow attach to the underside of the metal platter filled with paper, not your normal way to make automata.
A bit of Devine intervention came into play with already having a stand that fit the platter perfectly. Why I had this and where it came from I do not know, but I have been shifting it around the workshop for a few years. The height gave me the starting point for making the mechanics. As I said in the last post, all the parts are dependent on each other and where you start affects going forward. So with my first parameter set I grabbed the drill and committed to to the placement the boat and the moon. Ok, good, now how to get them to do what I want. This is when time stopped. An afternoon spent manipulating wire...boat sailing properly but moon going in circles, tweak, boat now sailing front to back, moon still going in circles, tweak, moon good boat stuck, tweak… again all parts interdependent... but finally boat sailing pretty smoothly and moon cresting over the waves as desired. All attached and moving but there was a dead space on the left side, no movement or color so I added the bright yellow star that swings freely. This is exactly the pop it needed to finish it off.
With our proximity to the Smoky Mountains, our area is known for our lightening bugs, or fireflies, if you prefer. Last fall Husband was thrilled when I brought home a 2 person metal swing in need of a home from a neighbor (something else to mow around) but I knew it would be wonderful for this, and it is. For a short span of time, around 3 weeks, I love to spend the twilight watching these bursts of yellow pop and zip around. After seeing some of the stunning professional pictures other have captured of the twinkling masses, I set off to see what I could do. I mostly looked like a lunatic skittering around the front yard with cellphone in hand. These little guys are apparently a bit camera shy and zoom away quite quickly when you set your sights on one or they stop blinking altogether if found resting on a blade of grass. After many failed attempts, I captured one in mid blink and with that my job was complete.
Mr. Squirrel is sitting on the front window ledge staring in, letting me know his bird feeder is empty. Sometimes he will share his bounty with the birds and a family of chipmunks but usually it is just he and his squirrel buddies feuding over who will gorge next.
Off to feed the masses.
Peace,
Hilari
[I have attempted to correct the weird font change and highlight to no avail.]
