Final Preparations

When I wrote this post about my museum competition piece, I mentioned my plan to make a box for presentation. I've been mulling over different ways to do this.

My super-crafty best friend had a number of great ideas and loaned me a book titled, "Crafting Personal Shrines" by Carol Owen. Surprise, surprise: Carol is an old acquaintance from my association with a local craft co-op! All sorts of people are going to have a hand in this fabulous piece of mine. In this book, Carol demonstrates the best way to treat foamcore to prevent the warping that occurs over time.

My initial thought was to make a box, from scratch, using foamcore. But, the weight of the collar made me worry the box wouldn't be strong enough to hold up. I decided to start with a ready-made white cardboard mailing box from Staples, and embellished it with some gorgeous marbled rice paper from my local studio supply shop. I used a solid colored rice paper in a nice deep burgundy to line the inside of the box, as well as reinforcing the outside corners.

To showcase the piece inside the box, I used foamcore as a slanted surface, inserted a column of mat board where the neck area would lie, and draped the whole thing with kiwi green silk velvet.

Hazzah!

My jury photo and artist statement have been uploaded, and now it's in the hands of the powers-that-be. I'll find out around the end of the month whether I was accepted or not. Either way, I'm very proud of what I've done here.

copyright 2010 Shibori Girl