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It's been awhile since there was time to post here. We continue to work on the home we are remodeling and are to the painting stage. All the new woodwork is primed including the 70+ cabinet doors. Now we clean, clean & clean to prepare for the high gloss finish coat.
Recently, needing a break from the work, my fingers succumbed to the lure of Pietre Dure, an art-historical term for the technique of using small, exquisitely cut and fitted, highly-polished colored stones to create what amounts to a painting in stone. It is considered a decorative art, a type of mosaic without grout. The pieces are all cut to fit together tightly.. It literally means Rock Hard.
In polymer clay, the unbaked clay is cut and inserted into an unbaked clay background. I learned about the polymer clay technique in Encyclopedia of Polymer Clay Techniques; a book by Sue Heaser.
The technique is fairly straightforward. Make a background. Cut a shape in the background, fill the shape with a piece of clay exactly the same shape. Like anything new, I just HAD to try it. After two false starts, I settled on a sailing ship. It's an old fashioned theme for an old fashioned technique.
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One by one each piece was cut out of the background and replaced with a matching shape in the proper color and ordination.
The mast was first, then the sails. Everything was cut and fit from the background to the foreground.
It turned out ok, after sanding it is amazingly smooth. At first glance, most people think it's a painting.
I plan to try it again. This time with blends for the water, canes of translucent and pearl swirls for the white water, bits of gold for bright sunlight flashes on the ship....... etc, etc. There are so many things I would do differently, but the work itself was invigorating.
What a delightful respite from the tedium of long hours sanding, cleaning, weeding, and all that is necessary to make our new home lovely.
Thanks for dropping by. If you want to use the drawing for your own attempt, feel free. I would love to see how you do. Be sure to see Sue's book for an excellent description of how to do this challenging technique since there is much more to making Pietre Dure than my simple description.
Thanks so much Sue!!
4 comments:
Lovely! and seems like magic. Thanks for sharing .
Malathy
Dear Penny this tutorial is very useful since there aren't many on the net. I decided to make a blog about pietre dure and I used a link to this post. If you know similar posts or links please inform me. Thanks!
Sandra
I really enjoy reading your blog and seeing all the beautiful things you create. I've chosen your blog for the Premio Meme award and featured your work on my blog!
Visit my blog for more about the award: http://treewingsstudio.blogspot.com/.
Have a wonderful weekend! :-)
Rebekah
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