fiber face

I have embarked upon another step in the creation of my new textile-and-glass piece based upon the design in the edges of my glass pattern slab slices (beaucoup blogging on this earlier.)

I want to have a series of faces -- they are the souls who represent the "I see it" statement in the glass pattern. Of course they will be women, because we are infinitely more compelling than men -- well, at least more ethereal in appearance.

Here is how this glass piece is being constructed: using fiber paper, specially made material suitable for kiln firing, I am cutting out my image. Two thickness of fiber paper are being used, to try to achieve a sense of variation of depth.

I have not finished with the image above, but wanted to at least post my progress. The separate pieces will be glued down to the thick fiber paper with a mixture of 50/50 school glue and water. I will place two pieces of glass over the image -- each 1/8" thick. One piece is not substantial enough to safely survive a kiln firing, so a piece 1/4" thick is a minimum.

My color palette comes from the pattern edge glass -- black, white, red, cream, a little taupe. For this face, I will use an opalescent red or a transparent pale pale sea green. I am trying to decide which would produce a more robust bas relief.

The whole textile-and-glass piece will be 3' x 4'. I anticipate making three faces (at least one of an older woman, so as not to focus on only youth). The older woman will be a challenge, because it will be difficult to cut tiny wrinkly pieces of fiber paper. Maybe my model for that one will be...me!