Day 8 — March 12—working on the back — Construction for Humanity

Now that the front is finished, I decided to work on the back. Remember that I already painted and stained the back to age it.  I decided to use the back to paste on a large piece of art. It's actually the cover taken from a 1899 magazine titled, "The Youth's Companion".  I then added another piece of newsprints from another vintage magazine titled "The American Home." How perfect is that?

I then took the piece of artificial slate (a product that was in my initial box of materials) and cut it down using my table saw to a small strip approximately 12" wide by 3" high. I wanted the bottom part I cut to blend in a little better with the right, left and top part of the "slate" so I used my x-acto knife and widdeled down the edges a bit.

 

I then drilled a hole at each corner and screwed that to the back above the artwork. This was to become my "plaque." I am now going to add titling to it. I do this by cutting out letters from old magazines an piecing it together to create my title. I added a small embellishment to the top right of the lettering. It's titled: 

Living in Harmony

Donated to "Constructions for Humanity" 

Portland, ME

I used tinted shellac to stain the entire back and added a little dove to the top right of the magazine cover.

The only thing to do now is sign the piece.

There is a bit of weight to this piece so next week I am going to take this to "Grapheteria" so that Lisa Castonia, framer, can add the appropriate hanging fixtures.   I want to make sure that when it is hung, it will be stable. I'll have Jim Castonia, professional photographer for Grapheteria take photographs of the piece for my portfolio.

I will then deliver my piece "Living in Harmony"  to Chris Kast at Maine Home + Design in Portand where he will make sure it gets to the special art auction of constructions and collages made by Maine-based artists that will be auctioned off to raise money for Habitat for Humanity. The timing of the auction will coincide with the Midcoast Home Show – June 5-6, 2010 at Point Lookout. I'll keep you on that.

Thanks for hanging in there. Signing off. Anastasia Weigle