I haven't given an update on The Thing mosaic in a long time. I had a burst of energy in January and got quite a bit done but then, halfway through the second speech bubble, I stalled. The letters (most seemed to be round and very small) were really frustrating and I just couldn't face it. Simon started to despair of ever getting his Christmas present. Then, inexplicably, about three weeks ago I had a burst of enthusiasm and started working on this once again for several hours a day. The second speech bubble was done in under an hour and it seemed to take no time at all the finish up The Thing's second leg and second arm. Here he is:
Notice I extended the B of the BUH out past the frame. The idea is that the content of the picture is bursting out of the frame--not hard to figure out but I thought I would be explicit. This was Simon's idea many months ago and I don't know why I resisted for so long--perhaps simply a habitual response to all his suggestions that I have acquired in the past twenty odd years of living with him. He now has no memory of suggesting the B extension and thinks it was my bright idea--I certainly came out ahead on that one! Next I will work on the ground with brown and black glass and after that the "impact lines" which frame the image. I'm not sure how I am going to break up the glass for the impact lines--if they are too even, it will look static. Thin lines look like motion but thin, squared-off pieces of glass do not. Glass shattered (like a broken windscreen) would convey motion but it would be hard to pack that into the spaces. I could double the width of each line (and so have half as many) and therefore would have more room to arrange the pieces...Hmm. Not sure. Have to think about this more. Anyway, here you can see the ground The Hulk is standing on and the impact lines on the bottom half of the picture.
The other issue that haunts me is the moment of shifting this mighty construction onto the wooden frame that will house the lighting. Should I grout first (adding 20 odd pounds of weight to something that will already weigh at least 20 pounds) and then shift it hoping the grout will keep the billions of glass pieces in place OR should I shift it before I grout and risk the plexiglass bowing and billions of glass bits popping loose? Working through this problem is keeping me up nights.
Notice I extended the B of the BUH out past the frame. The idea is that the content of the picture is bursting out of the frame--not hard to figure out but I thought I would be explicit. This was Simon's idea many months ago and I don't know why I resisted for so long--perhaps simply a habitual response to all his suggestions that I have acquired in the past twenty odd years of living with him. He now has no memory of suggesting the B extension and thinks it was my bright idea--I certainly came out ahead on that one! Next I will work on the ground with brown and black glass and after that the "impact lines" which frame the image. I'm not sure how I am going to break up the glass for the impact lines--if they are too even, it will look static. Thin lines look like motion but thin, squared-off pieces of glass do not. Glass shattered (like a broken windscreen) would convey motion but it would be hard to pack that into the spaces. I could double the width of each line (and so have half as many) and therefore would have more room to arrange the pieces...Hmm. Not sure. Have to think about this more. Anyway, here you can see the ground The Hulk is standing on and the impact lines on the bottom half of the picture.
The other issue that haunts me is the moment of shifting this mighty construction onto the wooden frame that will house the lighting. Should I grout first (adding 20 odd pounds of weight to something that will already weigh at least 20 pounds) and then shift it hoping the grout will keep the billions of glass pieces in place OR should I shift it before I grout and risk the plexiglass bowing and billions of glass bits popping loose? Working through this problem is keeping me up nights.
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