Hunting Unicorns-A Peek-a-Boo Project

 

A few months ago we sold our 1930's brick Cape Cod cottage it had a certain charm but it was deteriorating and needed a major over hall that we were unable to provide or commit to. So, we made the decision in the middle of my craziest school year of my 32 year career to put it on the market. We went looking for our unicorn, a condo closer to my work, with no steps, located on ground level. We sought this as there were bidding wars for almost any property on the market. Our house sold within three days and we found our unicorn in less than a week. We felt as if the universe listened to our pleas and gave us more than we anticipated. I'll write more about that at the end. One of the bonuses were amazing windows that brought in tons of natural light, our cottage was dark and dreary with no overhead lighting. This natural light is featured in my tutorial pictures below, and the inspirational of this art work along with unicorns.    

Supplies:  Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Arch Top Triptych 8 Inch, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Triptych-Arch Top, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Bird on a Swing Shape Set, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Oak Scribble Frame, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Queen Anne's Lace, Magazine Pages of Unicorn Tapestries, Art Scraps of Images of Your Choice,  Pencil, Scissors, Paintbrushes, Golden Acrylics-Fluorescent Blue, Yellow and Orange, Titan Green, Prussian Blue Hue, Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold, Van Dyke Brown, and Copper, Embossing Powders-Seth Apter-Weathered Wood and Gold, Crushed Copper, Wendy Vecchi Red Geranium, Embossing Ink Dabber, Embossing Ink Pad, Heating Tool, Script Stamp, Golden Heavy Gel Matte Medium, Matte Varnish. Blue Glitter, Hairspray, Spices. Oil Pastels, UHU Gluestick, Liquid Pearl-Juniper

1.  Gather Your Materials.

2.   Decide of Layout.

3.  I Found this Magazine at the Bookstore and it was Full of Inspirations.

4.  There was an Article  About "The Hunt of the Unicorn" Seven Tapestries that Reside at the Met Cloisters, in New York City. I have had the Privilege of Seeing Them in Person.

5.   Choose the Portions of The Magazine Pictures you Want for Your Background of the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Arch Top Triptych 8 Inch-I Used Middle Frame Only, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Triptych-Arch Top-I Used the Two Outside Frames Only.

6.  Paint the Back Part of the Frames with Golden Acrylics-Fluorescent Blue Titan Green,  and Prussian Blue Hue Randomly Mostly Around the Edges.

7.  Make a wash of Golden Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold Acrylic Paint and Matte Varnish to "Age" the Brighter Colors.

8.  Use UHU Gluestick to add Background Pictures to Painted Frames.

9.  Use Oil Pastels to Color Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Oak Scribble Frame, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Queen Anne's Lace .

10.                Use Golden Acrylics-Fluorescent Yellow and Orange, Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold, Van Dyke Brown, and Copper to Paint Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Bird on a Swing Shape Set.

11.                Assemble Your Collage Using Golden Heavy Gel Matte Medium.

12.                Spray With Hairspray and Sprinkle with Cinnamon and Chili Powder.

13.                Add a Dusting of Blue Glitter.

14.                Once Fully Dry Use a Scrip Stamp to Add Wendy Vecchi Red Geranium Embossing Powder in Random Area of the Assemblage. 

15.                Use Golden Heavy Gel Matte Medium to Attach the Top Frames to the Back Frame Portions.

16.                Hold Tightly Into Place with Clamps.

 16.                Add Dots of Liquid Pearl-Juniper Around the Frame Boarders.

17.                Once Fully Dry add a Coat of Matte Varnish to  Seal Everything in Place and Give Your Artwork a Uniform Professional Look.

18.                This Triptych can be Hinged Together with Small Metal Hinges and Microscrews or By Using Cloth Tape. I will be Using Mine as Book Cover Panels

 

Some Final Thoughts.

Our Condo Unicorn is not only on the ground  floor but a rancher, end unit, less than five miles from the middle school where I teach Math and Science. There are only fifty-five units and its hidden a bit off the beaten path in a cookie cutter community of Single Family Homes. My drive to work in on a windy country road surrounded by open fields and forested patches, with a meandering brook flowing under a single lane bridge. Yet, within the same five miles in the other direction all of our favorite restaurants and shoppes. We feel truly blessed by our immensely rare creature.

 

The Article  in Cabana, describe the Met Cloisters, as a "bucolic haven only a few miles away from the hustle and Bustle of Mid-Town." It is where you can go see the exquisite, well preserved, sets of the late Medieval tapestry, "The Hunt of the Unicorn." I have been fortunate enough to see these magnificent enchantments in person. I am intrigued by their intricate weaving and hidden details. They are magical and transport you to a time long forgotten. I want our condo to be such a place.

Unicorn by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

My friends say I should not believe

in things that can't be true.

But my heart believes one must exist

as real as me or you.

So don't listen to those who swear

that things they cannot see aren't there.

I am a unicorn, free and wild,

and someday I will find a child.

The Witching Hour--A Peek-a-Boo-Project

In Folklore, the witching hour or devil’s hour is the time of night when supernatural creatures are thought to be their most powerful, a time of magic and mischief. One of our favorite musicals is “Wicked” the untold story or the re-imagining of “The Wizard of Oz.”  More recently I’ve started following “Nocturne” a storytelling show that explores the night, the landscape of the unseen, and how thoughts, feelings and behaviors transform in the dark. These are the inspirations for this instillation.

 

Supplies:  Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-ATC Shrine - Time, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Trading Coin Covers Halloween, Metallic Green Acrylic Paints, Paintbrush, TH Distress Stain Crushed Olive, Allure Forest Foliage Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Weldbond, Photocopy of Witch, Glossy Accents, Skull Stamp, Black Permanent Ink Pad, Transparency Scrap, Scrap TH Abandoned Paper, Circle Template, Pen, Watercolors, Paper Clay, Metal Clamps, TH Clock Key, Screwdriver 

1.  Cover all pieces of Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-ATC Shrine - Time with a variety of green Metallic Paints. Do this quickly and randomly use a dry brush technique.

 
2.  Once dry, fill in any empty spaces with TH Crushed Olive Distress Stain.

3.  Working quickly before pieces dry, sprinkle with Allure Forest Foliage Embossing Powders.

4.  Cure with a Heat Tool.

5.  Assemble GSLC ATC Time Shrine and secure with Weldbond.

 

6.  Make a photocopy of a witch of your choosing. Decide what type of material you want to print it on.

7.  Cut and secure to inside of GSLC ATC Time Shrine using Glossy Accent as an adhesive. Once in gently coat photocopy with a thin layer of Glossy Accent.

 

8.  Use a skull stamp and black permanent ink to make a transparency to put behind clock face.

9.  Trace with a circle template and glue to a Scrap of TH Abandoned Paper using Weldbond.

 

10.                Take apart Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Trading Coin Covers Halloween.  Trimmed cat on fence so that I could use it inside the shrine.

11.                Paint coin covers with watercolors.

12.                Use a metallic green paint to paint the edges of coin covers.

13.                Use a bit of paper clay to make a ledge to secure cat on a fence piece inside the shrine. Securing with Weldbond.

14.                Paint with green paint and sprinkle with Allure Forest Foliage Embossing Powder and Set with a Heat Tool.

15.                Attach two Coin covers to clock face, one inside and one outside. Secure in place with metal clamps.

 

16.                Once dry add a TH Clock Key as a handle securing with a Screwdriver and adding a bit of Weldbond.

 Some Final Thoughts. I like the idea of magic and mischief cohabiting in the midnight hours and re-imaging long-held perspectives.  Wicked Quotes: “Everyone Deserves the Chance to Fly”

“I’ve heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn, we are led to those who help us grow the most if we let them, and we help them in return. Well, I don’t know if that is true. But I know I am today because I knew you.”

“The trouble with school is they always teach the wrong lesson. Believe me, I’ve been kicked out of enough to know. They want you to become less callow, less shallow, But I say ‘Why invite stress in? Stop studying strife and learn to live the unexamined life.’”

I have several favorite episodes of “Nocturne” among them being “I’m a Monster” a gay man journey into embracing his true self as he portrays a monster in haunted attractions, “Finding the Void” about a secret apartment hidden in the bowels of a giant mall, and “Blackfish” the story of Malcolm Saunders, a fishermen from Cornwall, on the southern tip of the UK. These a just a few of my most revisited episodes.