Before filling the gaps in with the self-leveling gel, I made sure that the sculpey dams weren't 'overflowing' into the spaces. I used one a miniature popsicle stick to shape the walls. I got a bag of like 200 or so of the mini-popsicle sticks at the DollarStore a few years back. I've ended up using them a lot on various projects. Yup.
So how to get the self-leveling gel into the gaps? I bought a needle-nosed squeeze bottle which I cut in half. Basically I poured some gel into the open end and used the bottle sort of like a pointy funnel. That worked out well enough. What didn't really work out was the self-leveling gel. I mean it did self-level and it is perfectly clear, but it's too thin. I filled the gaps approximately half way full and after it dried the next day, there was barely any height to the gel at all. It'd take bottles and bottles of the stuff to fill the gaps entirely. Ok, Plan B.
Plan B = Elmer's Glue. Yeah it sure is versatile (just like those mini-popsicle sticks).
The the gaps were successfully filled halfway deep with the Elmers. Just a few more things left to do...
Posted at 4:33 PM on Friday, March 26, 2004
This week's work began with a little use of the rotary tool. I used it just little here and there to smooth the edges of any nipped tiles that were 'rough edged.' That went really quickly. Next, the girl drawing was finally permanently glued to the board using white (Elmers) glue.
I then touched up any hairline cracks on the tiles. A few of the tiles surrounding the drawing cracked as they were being shaped to fit- not a big deal. [I amped up the contrast of the pic on the left in Photoshop so that you'd be able to see the fractures.] If a tile cracked, it was simply glued back together and only with the closest inspection can you see the fractures. But still I went a step further and rubbed some black gouache into the cracks to fully disguise them. Gouache, because it's opaque and water based, that way I could easily remove the excess from the surface of the tiles with no residue/filminess left behind. In the grand scheme of this piece, neither of these processes were entirely necessary, as most people would never notice either way whether they'd been done or not. But yeah, I'm a stickler. When it comes down to finish and craftsmanship- I usually won't "leave any stone unturned."
A problem that presented itself early on (during the planning / sketching phase): what to fill the spaces in between the tiles with? Grout for authenticity? Not possible. If you know how grouting works, then you know that there's no way I could do it without obliterating the drawing. It'd be impossible to remove the grout from the drawing because it's porous and textured. Admittedly I'd wanted to use grout so that I could write text on top of the grout lines once they'd cured (note: all of the Girl Series artworks contain text).
Right after I realized that grouting wasn't going to work out, I came up with the idea of using some sort of clear-filler. I liked this idea because it would allow me to try something with the text portion of the piece that wouldn't have been possible had I used grout (or something similar). I didn't work out "the what and how" of the clear-filler idea until much later, but then again I had a lot of time to consider the options. How long ago did I start this piece?!
I figured that some sort of acrylic medium or gel would be the way to go. I wanted transparent not translucent, so that narrowed the field of what I might use. Any sort of thicker, gel consistency medium seemed to be a last resort because it'd be too hard to get that down into the spaces without making a mess (and taking forever). At this point, I'm going to go with Golden Self-Leveling gel. It should be the perfect consistency to work with- fairly fluid, without being runny.
The next problem to be overcome: if it isn't prevented, as it levels, the gel will run out from the spaces between the tiles, off the edge of painting and out onto the floor. To stop this, I shape small chunks of Sculpey to use as "dams" at each opening around the perimeter of the painting. Once the dams are in place, I'd essentially created a circuit of canals to fill in with the self-leveling gel. Lastly, to prevent the painting from moving during the process, I fastened to the floor with a few tabs of packing tape.
I then touched up any hairline cracks on the tiles. A few of the tiles surrounding the drawing cracked as they were being shaped to fit- not a big deal. [I amped up the contrast of the pic on the left in Photoshop so that you'd be able to see the fractures.] If a tile cracked, it was simply glued back together and only with the closest inspection can you see the fractures. But still I went a step further and rubbed some black gouache into the cracks to fully disguise them. Gouache, because it's opaque and water based, that way I could easily remove the excess from the surface of the tiles with no residue/filminess left behind. In the grand scheme of this piece, neither of these processes were entirely necessary, as most people would never notice either way whether they'd been done or not. But yeah, I'm a stickler. When it comes down to finish and craftsmanship- I usually won't "leave any stone unturned."
A problem that presented itself early on (during the planning / sketching phase): what to fill the spaces in between the tiles with? Grout for authenticity? Not possible. If you know how grouting works, then you know that there's no way I could do it without obliterating the drawing. It'd be impossible to remove the grout from the drawing because it's porous and textured. Admittedly I'd wanted to use grout so that I could write text on top of the grout lines once they'd cured (note: all of the Girl Series artworks contain text).
Right after I realized that grouting wasn't going to work out, I came up with the idea of using some sort of clear-filler. I liked this idea because it would allow me to try something with the text portion of the piece that wouldn't have been possible had I used grout (or something similar). I didn't work out "the what and how" of the clear-filler idea until much later, but then again I had a lot of time to consider the options. How long ago did I start this piece?!
I figured that some sort of acrylic medium or gel would be the way to go. I wanted transparent not translucent, so that narrowed the field of what I might use. Any sort of thicker, gel consistency medium seemed to be a last resort because it'd be too hard to get that down into the spaces without making a mess (and taking forever). At this point, I'm going to go with Golden Self-Leveling gel. It should be the perfect consistency to work with- fairly fluid, without being runny.
The next problem to be overcome: if it isn't prevented, as it levels, the gel will run out from the spaces between the tiles, off the edge of painting and out onto the floor. To stop this, I shape small chunks of Sculpey to use as "dams" at each opening around the perimeter of the painting. Once the dams are in place, I'd essentially created a circuit of canals to fill in with the self-leveling gel. Lastly, to prevent the painting from moving during the process, I fastened to the floor with a few tabs of packing tape.
Posted at 2:30 PM on Thursday, March 18, 2004
A bit of "behind the scenes work" this week. Going into this project, I knew I'd eventually have to deal with the fact that the drawing and the tile were slightly different heights. The foamcore, which the drawing of the girl was done on, is just a bit lower than the tile. In the grand scheme of things this might not seem like such a big deal, but in fact it would make the next stage much much harder if the two were at different heights...but lets not get ahead.
The fix turned out to be really simple. The difference in height turned out to be equal to the height of a piece of Black #20 illustration board. I happened to have a bunch of scrap pieces lying around. The pic on the right is a side view. Since I used scraps, the illustration board does not cover the entire back of the drawing, which you can see here. Rather it goes around the entire edge of the drawing, leaving the center open- that's not important, it's just the way it worked out.
A bit of "behind the scenes work" this week. Going into this project, I knew I'd eventually have to deal with the fact that the drawing and the tile were slightly different heights. The foamcore, which the drawing of the girl was done on, is just a bit lower than the tile. In the grand scheme of things this might not seem like such a big deal, but in fact it would make the next stage much much harder if the two were at different heights...but lets not get ahead.
The fix turned out to be really simple. The difference in height turned out to be equal to the height of a piece of Black #20 illustration board. I happened to have a bunch of scrap pieces lying around. The pic on the right is a side view. Since I used scraps, the illustration board does not cover the entire back of the drawing, which you can see here. Rather it goes around the entire edge of the drawing, leaving the center open- that's not important, it's just the way it worked out.
Posted at 9:32 PM on Thursday, March 11, 2004
No new art being made at the moment. The next update will most likely be late next week...I'm going to San Francisco for a few days of vacation. I'll have some pics for the tell.tale.photoblog to be sure. In the meantime, remember to take it to the max and get awesome!!! That's what I'll be doing.