We're All Ears :: March Reveal

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." ~ Robert Burns

I had the best intentions with this month's challenge. I love the mandala shapes, the bright color palette, the intricate patterns. I actually wanted to do something with wire and beads and a frame (of course, seed beads terrify me as anything other than a mere spacer bead, but I foolishly thought that maybe I could teach myself a little bead weaving or something....clearly, I am delusional). I might still revisit the ideas that I had, but with the time dwindling down to nothing, I knew I had to enact a plan B.

I am working on putting together an art exhibit for this fall so I have been amassing all manner of stuff for all my lofty mixed media ideas. Maybe it is just an excuse to splurge on tools and materials, I don't know. Anyway, as I stood in the middle of my studio around 9:00pm (I spent all day trying to get my receipts wrangled for tax time - I'm up to September. Woohoo!), dumbfounded as to what I could do with the few remaining hours I had left, I spotted a set of specialty paints that I bought for my show. I needed to find a time to play with them and determine what use they would be to me, so why not kill two birds with that proverbial stone?

These paints are called Pebeo Prisme paints. Tiny little pots of liquid metallic colors that yield the most fantastic results. They had settled quite a bit and needed a lot of stirring, but the colors were rich and shimmery and the effect might just work to give a mosaic feel to the little charms I found in my stash.

I layered the colors by dripping them on top of each other using a toothpick. Then I just sat back and watched the magic happen.

You see these paints react to the air and each other by making natural honeycomb shapes. As they dry, the effect changes minute by minute. What I didn't realize is that these paints need a minimum of 6 hours to dry to the touch (72 hours to be fully cured!). Ah, well.... I couldn't very well disturb these little charms working their miracles.

Morphing Mandala {temporary} earrings

But I did ever-so-gently pick up the first pair I made, using a color palette straight from the inspiration, and quickly made them into some very simple earrings, before dismantling them to rest for the full cure time. Aren't they fab?

Pairs, anyone?

I quite like the effect of these paints. They have a wonderful morphing nature that is unpredictable. That is why I like them so much! So now I know how they react and I am excited to make them the stars of some of my art pieces that I am planning, plus I think a little line of these funky earrings (made to look a lot better than these temporary ones up above!) might just be the thing to fill up my case at the gallery for spring and summer!

I might even decide to make some pairs available in my shop in case others want to use them as well, in case anyone is interested... I will see how this batch turns out, because where you see them now is not likely how they will end up, and then I might want to add some resin over the top to make them really POP. It will be quite exciting to see them in the morning! [UPDATE: see the new picture above to see some of the changes that happened overnight.]

I can't wait to see what you created using this inspiration!

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