Sunday, January 6, 2013

This time on ivory

While I'm catching up a little on projects I finished a while ago, I thought I should probably post about a portrait miniature which I painted last spring.  Aubry, a truly lovely historical costumer, had contacted me about doing a miniature of her husband in late 18th century style and clothing.  This gave me the opportunity to paint a miniature on actual ivory, something I'd not before attempted.

Painting on ivory was definitely an... experience.  As much as I thought polymer clay wasn't absorbant, ivory was even less so.  Very, very slick.  After a bit of trial and error, I found that the best way to apply the paint was in very tiny, little brush-strokes.  A sort of stippling in tiny lines instead of dots, if that makes sense.



I can totally see how one would need all the years of an apprenticeship to be able to call one's self a miniaturist!  The skill is definitely one that requires practice.

3 comments:

  1. Aaaaaaaaaaand THIS is why I could never have the patience to be an artsty artist!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You really did such an amazing job with this miniature! It sits on a shelf in my sewing room and every time I look at it I smile. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aw, thank you! You don't know how happy it makes me to hear that!

      Delete