Friday 20 January 2012

Messing About With Copper Leaf

I quite enjoy playing around with different finishes and techniques when it comes to decorating work and this piece was no exception. I do seem to have an ongoing like for metallic materials and effects at the moment, particularly when used with other colours and textures.
This form started out this morning as a block of Elm that hadn't been used as it was a fairly poor example of a beautiful wood. I chose it as I thought the openness of the grain would look good with the colouring technique of base coating with white that would hopefully show in the open grain after airbrushing with several light coats of stain. The white is also applied in such a way as to leave a very slight texture that gives the final colours a nice matt finish to contrast the bright copper leaf.
The stains have been built up purposefully uneven to leave a slightly 'mottled' appearance to the coloured area of the form. The same colouring was also applied to the both the bottom area and the lid prior to the application of the copper leaf as a base coat. After it had dried, I rubbed at the copper leaf to give a distressed look and break through to allow some of the colour to show from underneath.
Finally it has been topped off with a simple yet delicate finial of Indian Rosewood for a nice dark contrast to the rest.

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