Paradise Island
I wanted to make a surprise for a friend who likes all things nautical, so a 3d island was just the thing I thought. I wanted palm tress, a
hammock, beach hut, with a bit of
macabre to
balance, so grave stones, shrunken heads etc.
So the first starting point was to layer up loads of sawdust to act like sand each layer was allowed to dry
before the next application. Whilst doing this i worked on the individual elements.
Palm trees, these were to be constructed using eyelash and mixed fiber wools. I used wire, fairly thick so they would a] stand up and b] be able to thread through the hole and fix.
Three I felt was the right number i needed. It took a long time threading the wool in to a trunk and 5 branches per tree.
Once I had them constructed I started to add texture via colour so I sprayed the top of the trees
with pesto, let it dry and then
darkened the main branch with..........distressed ink
The coconuts were card candy coloured with distressed tea dye and
stuck under the branches.
The parrots were a couple of beads covered in flocking and feathers attached via thin wire to the trees
Beach hut made by weaving some raffia and distressing with tea die
Hearth a
pre trimmed shell
Guitar a charm stuck to tree trunk
Hammock a piece of pot
porri glued between the trees, the beach canoe was also a smaller piece of seed shell.
a bit of yellow paper made the pillow and a few bits of tissue paper made a book
Graves lolly pop sticks trimmed and charm crosses added and
beded into sawdust, bit of
gesso turned the wood bleached
Shrunken Heads small heads stuck on bits of sticks, feathers for hair and pushed into the sawdust
After finishing the assembling, the sea was next.....yes its high tide.....was some
coloured gesso on tissue paper for texture when dry i topped it with white
gesso and some
glistening stickles.
i hope she likes it.
