A little bit of leather

One of the things I love about working the way I do is that I never quite know exactly how the finished product will look. This is deliberate.  I am a bit of a control freak, and when I began my Phergles, I tried to impose specific meanings and messages on them.  It didn’t work. The sculptures felt contrived. It was only when I learned to “let go” and trust my subconscious to carry creative responsibility that the flow of real ideas came.

As I mentioned before in other posts, getting the right “finish”for the figurines was also a problem.

I had done one version of “The Chair” with an aluminium foil finish, which worked very well.



Painted with bitumen-based aluminium roof paint
 

The second version I simply painted with aluminium roof paint.

Dull, lifeless, I thought it was horrible.

I then decided to strip off all the paint and apply foil to it, like the previous version, but as I worked something wonderful happened.

The aluminium paint came off, but the bitumen which is part of the paint, left a really interesting brown patina, and so I arrived at “The Chair” Version 2. It has given the piece an interesting leathery feel, which somehow suits it perfectly. It makes it warmer, softer looking, but then the subject matter is revealed and the contrast is a little disturbing. Perfect!