Finishitis

Today I've been consumed by a bug which normally eludes me: finishitis.  I've often tried to analyze why it is that I procrastinate finishing pieces, and I don't know the answer but I surely do hate completing works that I start.  So today was a true breath of fresh air.  While enjoying my morning cup of coffee, I studied the above piece....at that time it looked sort of like this:

You may remember this piece from when I posted pics of it way back in February (the 15th and 22nd, to be exact!).  I knew that I wanted to add something to that right center area, and I thought I wanted circles.  As I was beading the flowers last night, I contemplated embroidering a circle or two or three in there...perhaps in black.  Then I thought I'd do the stitching in gold.  But over my coffee this morning, it struck me that I could add some gold leaf.  I love gold leaf, but the process has not come easily for me.  I got out one of my favorite surface design workbooks, Paper & Metal Leaf Lamination, reread the process, and then left to go to the gym, visit my Mom, and run errands.  During that time, the process simmered in my brain, and I couldn't wait to get started!  First I had to make a thermofax screen of the circles I had in mind, then the fun began!  I had the perfect gloss gel medium from Utrecht and it screened onto the silk with ease.  I let it dry and played with other things in the studio.....and then came the fun of fixing the gold leaf to the dried medium.  It behaved perfectly (or was it I who was behaving???), and so I was motivated to finish the edges.  The silk was already fused to its backing, and I had thought of leaving the edges raw, but while perusing "the book" this morning, I had been captivated by the Stitching & Burning segment.  It reminded me of a wonderful silk painting class I had taken in Kansas City with Yvonne Porcella a number of years ago.  She had taught us to burn the raw edges of silk, and I had finished one piece successfully that way.  So I thought I'd give it another try.  "The book" suggested using a soldering iron, so I tried mine, but it wasn't working well - perhaps mine doesn't get hot enough?  So, I got out my trusty candle, opened all of the studio doors, put on my respirator, summoned up all of my courage (what if the silk catches fire and I can't save this piece?).  In our workshop, Ms. Porcella had instructed us to have a pan of water underneath the silk, so that if the flames got out of hand, we could drop the silk into it.  I opted to work in my studio sink.

I recalled my friend and classmate Shirley, who is always mocking our 'precious' cloth, and plodded on!  It wasn't that scary afterall, and I was liking the process.

Here's part of the edge laid out on my worktable after I was finished.

I like how it came out!

So all that was left was affixing the hanging apparatus, and putting it on the wall!  YAYYYYY!!! 

I've been working to complete another project and hope to have photos to share with you later this week.  My design walls are covered with pieces that are begging for more layers, so I need to keep busy!!  A week at the beach was just what I needed!!!

PEACE