Floored

I was loopy from cramp medicine but felt enough energy to see if my idea for the cottage hardwood flooring would work. Clockwise from bottom left, I laid out a mixture of hardwood slats on top of a newspaper template I had shaped to fit the cottage floor area. I then made cuts at various intervals in nearly each slat to mimic how hardwood flooring starts and stops vs. using only long pieces and secured the whole side with masking tape. (It used up all my energy that day) I then slathered on nearly a whole bottle of stainable wood glue on the reverse side and pressed the paper template down on it with cinder block weights to flatten. When all dry the next day, I began to slice off the excess slat ends with a dowel pull saw, trimming the floor to the exact shape of the paper template. When all done the hardwood floor should drop down easily in one piece into the waiting cottage. Then little nails will finish off the miniature illusion.


I felt the need to make Rana a larger soup kettle than the one I had. She makes a lot of soup and that little thing was not going to be the right scale for her. I knew I wanted a rounded bottom so a can was out. It occurred to me that a vitamin bottle could be easily cut down and have the essentially right shape to it. (What does one do with vitamins in a bottle that has the misfortune to be the exact right size for art? Sacrificed!) I used different gauges of armature wire to shape the rim and handles. I used a small hammer to flatten the ends of the handles and drilled them to attach jewelry nailheads as fasteners. The whole composition was painted with thick iron paint for texture, then several coats of real copper paint was put on the kettle and nailheads. Chemical patina for both copper (green) and iron (rust) were applied when the finishes were dry. The bottom was blackened with gesso to suggest all the charring from use in the open hearth oven/stove.