"Fleeting Perspectives: A Paper Ballet" Part 4

Got a chance to grab a couple of hours to complete the 3rd and 4th stage sets for the Paper Ballet this week. I began with an organic cloud formation and glued a cardboard structure to the backside to give it strength.

After gluing the paper to the cardboard, I placed it in the set and realized that the sharp corners didn't fit into the coaving I had created inside the set. Oh well, I will have to fix that in post production... Without testing, I drew right onto the paper and at first I thought I had drawn the top angle of the spiral too high and begin to make another insert with paper and cardboard.

Running out of time, I rexamine the first spiral I had created and placed it into the set. I realized the angle of the board determined the angle of the spiral. Lucky me, the slightly overarching line at the top actually flattens out at the correct angle when placed inside the set!

Next, I made the checkerboard flooring. I drew in the black squares on the paper with an acid free Tombow art pen No. 25. It's a dual brush with a fine tip for the outlines and a Japanese brush on the other end which I used to fill in the boxes.

I tested the ink on both the coated and uncoated sides of the inkjet paper to determine which side would give the ink the illusion of greater depth and saturation. To my surprise, the coated side (above left) helps the ink to float on the surface and helped me to achieve the saturated deep black I was looking for. 

Drawing in the checkers on the board was fun but tedious. As I slowly drew in the boxes, I realized how nice it is to have ink involved in the piece. As the lines are hand drawn, there is a feeling of imperfection that I like. As fast as I would like to get this done, I am perpetually slowed down by the physical materials.

The faster I rush to finish making these sets, the more mistakes I made and the less I enjoyed the process. Another reminder of how fast paced life can get. I am greatful to be reminded that I need to slow down and enjoy what is happening in the present instead of always fighting the clock!

I have run out of Elmers glue, so I had to use spray mount. Elmers + paper = heaven. The spray mount works in a pinch but I had to be extemely careful when laying the paper down to smooth it out from the corner, as it sticks immediatly to the cardboard.

Lastly, I constructed the final fronticepiece again using the cloud formation and applied it to both the spiral and checkerboard flooring.

I am extremly happy with the results and believe my original plans have been seen to fruition. I am eager to now shoot all 8 sets with proper lighting so that I can then drop the Paper Dancers into the sets!