Tropical Winged Torso

Instructions

1. I added some color to the wood accents on the papier mach torso. I used Carbon Gray Varathane Wood Stain - its easy to apply and dries quick. I have never seen or used a gray stain... I love this color and the color it achieved. Some areas didnt take the stain too well and looked a bit spotchy {most likely due to wood glue in the composite shape}, so I added a little more color with a white-wash from a paint pen, then brushing over with a grey acrylic glaze. Set aside to dry. Now the finish is beautiful!

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2. Gather ready to use embellishments to paint or create your own. I created several molds using Amazing Mold Putty: an Art Deco style vintage mirror, a hand-carved polymer clay palm leaf, and some interesting shaped shells; then cast using Ocean Blue Alumidust colorant and Amazing Casting Resin. Ive brushed coloring into the molds and also into prepared resin to give pale blue blanks with a metallic blue surface. The overpour {flashing} tears away easy while resin is still soft and any remaining is trimmed away using Tonic scissors, then smoothed edges with an emory board. I brush the high points with Tonic Nuvo Embellishment Mousse to give shine and brightness to the resin pieces with a nice pearly pale blue.

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3. Take some plastic wrap to cover the wooden parts to protect from the fun part... spray painting! I painted on a layer of Mod Podge Matte finish to seal the papier mach torso in preparation to accept the layers of spray paint. Apply bright gloss green and a bright blue, sprayed by alternating colors in no particular pattern. Let dry for a couple minutes between layers.

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4. With nice base layer achieved, I continued to adding spraying varying between two stencils. The resulting shapes are organic and look like shadows peeking through palm branches at night. I also sprayed the backside of my resin pieces to match torso.

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5. I crossed the mirror shapes into an X shape, then wrapped with wire several times to form wings, then secured around the torso by wrapping with more wire. I brushed a little of the spray paint onto the wire to blend it in to the background torso pattern. I decided to leave off the other two shell pieces I prepared... in this case less is MORE! I finished off by adding a section of recycled gems from old costume jewelry and Scrapbook Adhesives Dodz around the neck. I dangled the resin palm leaf and a faceted gem using a large jump ring and this tropical beauty is complete!

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