Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Trash and What You End Up Doing


This mask, of sorts... is probably not finished. I used to make masks... of sorts... and hang them on the wall for respite and reflection and perspective then rework. Now, why I am making a paper mache mask at this moment I only realized the other day. It started with pulling out some stuff I hadn't even looked at in a while and thinking hmmmm. And fixing up an old piece for hanging... drawing a troll... and then came the mask. It took 4 or 5 days of such messing around before I realized... its 'cause I have another jewelry model making job (working for someone else, part time.) This is exactly what I did last time I worked as a jewelry model maker. I did other stuff. I'd come home and just could not sit at the bench. Well. The "vacation" is over tomorrow!

Along the sides of the mask you see those small plastic things? A few years ago I used to go landscape painting in a cemetery nearby. I'm not a very good painter... but landscape painting is a way of going for a walk and looking around really really well. Its nice and fun. This cemetery is beside a river and there is where I collected a bunch of those little bitty plastic things. Some plant up river was dumping, or had dumped, all this trash in the river. In a way the small bits of color looked pretty among the shore line's residue... If you didn't think about the environment, that is. I figured some day I'd find a use for them.

UPDATE! what can I say. The saga goes on... though I'm promising myself no more messing around for a while!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very interesting! I empathize completely with not being able to "sit at the bench" - Every time I have a big craft show coming up and need to make double the amount of jewelry that I normally make - What do I do?...Go vintage shopping
I think that I perform better under stress:)

Suldog said...

I love the recycling aspect of the work, but are you sure the pellets are safe? I'm not being facetious. Companies have been known to dump some fairly toxic things into rivers.

Unknown said...

Now that is one good looking mask! Sorry you have lost your own jewelry muse right now but at least you're still being creative right? Hey I agree with Sul...what are those plastic things and how safe are they???

Chris Stone said...

what was funny and why i did this post... posting that struggling mask... is. i didn't realize what i was doing. when i started doing all this other stuff rather than jewelry. usually i don't have a problem getting in bench time... i view it as a job. its just when i work in the industry that problems arise.

the little bitty plastic thingies... that's how they make plastic. they're fine. not toxic. i think they come from a plant where my brother works! it bums me out seeing them in a natural setting... among the fish and the birds... but by themselves they are not without visual interest.

Rosebud Collection said...

Wow, that is really turning out beautiful..What a great job..

Michelle H. said...

The things we make when we procrastinate! It's different, and I love different. Good job!

Just like Suldog, I was a little worried about the toxic issue. I'm surprised no one has done anything about the dumping...

Chris Stone said...

you know mlh.... it procrastination is a good name for the mask. its rather confused and silly!

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to tell you that I appreciate your inventiveness with recycling objects and turning them into beautiful productions. You definitely use your intuition in the creative process. Very genius!