Caged - by Lesley

Hey people. Happy New Year and all that jazz!

I hope you had a very Happy Crimbo? Its good to be back after a nice little break.......i had missed the room of trash!

As per usual, i had no idea what i was going to create, so i did my normal "close my eyes and stick my hand in the my craft parts box" and pull something out. This happened to be a MDF arch shrine kit......and this is what i created with it......

Not your normal type of creation maybe, but i kinda like the wee man trying to escape out of the box!
I started by gluing the box together and giving it a coat of gesso.

Inside the box, i splodged on some texture gel and sprinkled in some texture powder. Then using various paints watered down, i built up the colour.

I added texture around the sides and back of the box with paste and a stencil.

The wee man was actually a clown originally. I stripped him down to just the body parts and corded limbs. These were painted black and then rusty wire wrapped around them. His head, arms and legs were primed with gesso, then i added various paints and a touch of crackle glaze.

By this point i knew i wanted to use some chicken wire (evil stuff) but the wee man didn't quite protrude enough out of the box. I took some of the circle plywood plaques in different sizes, glued them together and painted them. This is where i should have taken a pic! You can just about see them! The circles were ideal to use as a base, they were just the right amount of thickness to glue the wee mans head to.......giving him enough depth to stick his arms and legs out of the box.

Next was the chicken wire which i really struggled with! I love working with wire, but i was confuddled with how to attach the chicken wire to the box! Half a reel of rusty wire later, and it was in place. I snipped a few holes in the chicken wire and pulled out the wee mans arms and legs.

I then decided i wanted to use the arched bit of the kit.....which now didn't sit snugly to the box because of the chicken wire! Using the other half of the reel of rusty wire, i secured the arched bit to the front! This is exactly why it may help if i actually planned things just a little bit!

Looking at him now, i think the piece needs a bit of wordage on him.......which i'm off to add now!

Thanks for reading
L.xx

Ingredients used
Round birch plywood plaques
Arched MDF shrine kit, style 2