Shadow Box # 10 ~ Inside and Outside Series ~ Gathering

The pieced fabric square in the background is something I made years ago. I was experimenting with sewing small swatches of cloth together to make strips, sewing the strips together and attaching more material to frame and build borders. There are almost two hundred separate pieces of fabric making up the square(!) It fit perfectly in the box I had so I used it as the starting point for the rest of the shadow box design.

The little package in the center is foam core covered with rice paper that had been painted with ink, using a brush I made out of found deer tail hair (move over Martha Stewart!) It is decorated with a deer rib, grape vine and sticks painted to match the tiny bits of color in the fabric square. All that is held onto the package with a piece of paper torn from an ink drawing and edged in gold.

I carved the edges of the frame, painted it black, sanded it and stained it with burnt sienna acrylic mixed with polyurethane. The last thing added was the small found stone on the bottom. It is secured with jeweler's glue.

The piece is 12" X 12".