A New Project--Part 2

I next made wings by tearing or cutting pieces of paper doilies and placing them under the body shapes. You could also use rice paper or fabric or lace--anything you like that makes you think of wings and that will glue down fairly flat. Once all the paper pieces were glued down, I let everything dry. Next, I used a very thin wash of white gesso and water to "soften" some of the very stark areas--just dilute the gesso and brush over random areas, lightly. I used a bit of red watercolor at this point to enhance a few other areas and add a little color to the white/black/gold pallette used on all 3 hangings.

Let it all dry again and then spatter lightly with thin mixed black watercolor or black gesso and a toothbrush to unify the whole tiny project. Not too much, just a little spatter here and there.

Once dry, I began the fun part of embellishing with line work done in gold gel pen. Just some random scribbles, outlining some of the checks in gold and so on. And I signed each piece with a fine line black pen in an inobtrusive place.

Dry again! And then coat each piece with a protective finish of some sort, such as mat or gel medium, spray varnish, or some top coat. I wanted to try out some new finishes so I did one in clear gesso, one in matt varnish (brush on), and one with a self-leveling gel top coat. Each turned out different--the self-leveling gel was shiny, but not a very smooth hard finish as I had expected. Maybe it needs more coats. The mat varnish is a nice, dull finish and the clear gesso is just a clear, non-shiny effect. I think I like the mat varnish best, but it is also the one that smeared the red areas the most and that's both good and bad.

When they are all done and dry,  photograph each one; scan each one and save on the computer so you can make cards etc. of them, if desired; and make a label for the back of each one with your contact information etc. Mine will be labelled "Checked Chicks 1, 2, and 3" so I have a record of them as I create them.

I'm not sure what I'll charge for each one, but I'm thinking in the $20-25 range. Would you pay that much for one? They are now officially for sale, I guess, but I do want to keep them until after December 12th.

Their good points? Small, portable, don't take up much wall or surface space--and their legs, feet, hands etc. are quite humorous! Check out the tennis shoes and gym socks on the
one to the right!