Saturday 8 November 2008

Bamboo tiles/Dominoes

On the One Powerful Hourthe challenge is to make a Christmas ornament in one hour.




So take your pick - these took an hour each to make - over several days though.




This is the reverse of the bamboo tile below. I can see a left side of a face in my marble-ing - can you? I can see half her face peeking out from a door - an eye, tip of her nose and half a mouth - and the has an old fashioned hair style - long and wavy right down to her shoulder.

Oh - now on the right hand side of her, I can see a young child (boy?)with hands in the pockets of a long white coat that reaches down to the floor - over dark clothes.

His head is tilted downwards as though he is looking at the floor,and he/she has a floppy fringe, or it might be a hat. To the right is a white wall like the side on the house and he/she is walking on a white pavement. LOL Or is it a man in a white coat coming to take me away!

Its a pure fluke

Does that ever happen to you - seeing faces etc in clouds or flames or wallpaper?




Each little tile has at least three layers of varnish - some have five coats.
This little lady I have made into a mobile phone charm.




Each coat of varnish takes 24 hours, at least, to dry.



And I can only do one side at a time obviously.




Although some images appear on more than one tile - every single one is different. I put gold or pewter leaf on them, beads or charms, to make them all individual.

They are such a joy to alter - and patience is needed - in bucket loads.



I have been experimenting as you can see - and not all of them are Christmas themed - and not all of them are finished yet - so come back soon and see how they all turn out.

View from my studio window soon after 6am today

I was in my studio early this morning putting another coat of varnish on the bamboo tiles.

When I looked up I saw this



I ran indoors for my camera.




It looked even better in 'real life'



In a few minutes when the sun rose - it was gone




I am so glad I didn't miss this



Isn't it wondrous? It made me feel so happy - and was such a wonderful experience.

There was total silence - the birds were just waking up - and as soon as the sun was up they started singing - I felt like singing myself.

By 9am it was dull and grey and raining.