Saturday, May 25, 2013

Year of the Cicada and other buggy things


This is the year the cicadas come out of their seventeen year sleep, rise from the ground and cause havoc...they eat, work hard at making little baby cicadas and lay their eggs in the smaller branches of hardwood trees.
Aside from the yuck factor I feel when I think about a plague of cicadas, they are also pretty fascinating creatures as are most insects......if you happen to like buggy things as I do.






































Inspired by the seventeen year locust, this is a plaque made from wood polymer clay and brass findings. The beautifully made cicada is a raw brass stamping I found online at Vintage Jewelry Supplies. I enameled him with nail polish applied with fine brushes. Nail polish remover will clean the brushes okay, but best to have a couple for dedicated use and don't spend a lot of dollars on them as they don't last long!
The clay tiles were cut out with cookie cutters and textured
with various stamps and tools with interesting patterns.
The color is painted on with acrylics.
The leaves are also brass stampings enameled with nail polish.
The wooden plaque everything rests on was primered, then painted with gold acrylic paint and then a layer of Quinacridone Gold was washed over the top to give it a richer look.







































2 comments:

Kyra said...

You do know that that is bloody gorgeous?

L Mahaffey said...

Thank you, Kyra!