Onward Ambitious ArtPrize Entry...

"We are each of us born into the arms of mortality, the Lord recognizing our need to be held."~ Robert Brault

...And the need to fly! This being as close as I can get at the moment, making some angel wings.

 More like closer to the 'idea' of flying. Here is the box of 8" long copper feathers after being cut from an 18' long x 3' sheet of 10 Mil copper sheeting.

These are the first feathers after much pressing and hammering (and rubbing on of Tei Fu Massage Cream to soothe my aching hands and wrists...) I am so loving how these are turning out but I may re-think a new hobby of copper tooling? Extreme soreness is only a problem when you don't tend to go into things half heartedly. (Did I mention that I can be quite tenacious?)

I actually experienced a shot of endorphins after seeing how these turned out, even more when I wired the first few on the actual wings to get a look and measure out each one (see below).

So rocking this process and each step of it will be guaranteed to bring more ecstasy. (Yes, if you haven't figured it out already, I am a bit weird, but that is one of the reasons my husband married me and one of the most important life bits to teach your kids: Everyone is weird, some just more than others!) 

So... glad I have a while to process the attaching of the feathers to the wings; It will be a while before I get all these tooled. I ordered a pressure sensitive tape from the copper company and will be playing with that and a bit of wiring I believe. The whole impetus behind my idea of the copper was to keep the wings fairly light; they are already about 40 pounds having been made with rebar, and to add mosaic glass and grout would have made them too heavy to lift and place into the mosaic angel sculpture's back (at least, that is what we thought and didn't want to find out the hard way).

So exciting to start a new project and so sad that I have a real day job. It will save me from extreme carpal tunnel syndrome all at once (except I get my share of that from doing hair).

Have a great weekend, and don't forget to fly;)