Installation-in-progress ... Week Three

(Above:  Week THREE of my installation-in-progress at CMFA, Columbia Museum Festival Association, at 914 Pulaski Street in downtown Columbia.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

This past week I created nine larger circles/orbs for my installation-in-progress.  These were different than earlier ones.  How?  Well, I backed each one with thin, highly reflective metallic mat board.

(Above:  One of the "orbs" along with its metallic backing cut and ready to be glued to the reverse.)

I have both gold and silver.  The picture above shows the metallic mat board.  I traced each orb onto the back of the mat board, cut it out, and glued it to the reverse.

Here are the nine pieces ... five with gold and four with silver.  I like the results even though it is difficult for me to photograph well.

Here's a detail of one of the orbs backed with silver.

This shows the gold.  In person, they really do reflect light!

I also had to rehang most of the orbs.  Why?  Well the wonderful, temporary walls at CMFA are made of wood ... solid wood ... not sheet rock.  Hammering t-pins into such a hard surface bent most of the pins.  As a result, the orbs were starting to sag.  

I replaced most of the t-pins after coming up with a solution for using them.  I first nailed a Ziabicki nail where I wanted the t-pin. Ziabicki nails are much thinner than other nails.  I have more than 2000 of them.  They are the nails I've used to hang my Wall of Keys.  I've hung this installation in several locations in the USA and even at The Festival of Quilts in England.  After nailing in the Ziabicki nail, I pulled it out and used the small hole for the t-pin.  Now, everything is hanging correctly.  Yet, I've been thinking of other hanging options.  Coming weeks will find me experimenting!

The ability to stand back and view this installation of circles/orbs is invaluable.  Without it, I don't think I would have thought of creating "comet dust".  I'm envisioning very small circles and glitter.  In the past, I've sort of frowned on glitter as being too tacky despite the facts that my basic material is extremely gaudy polyester stretch velvet and that many of my workshop participants have used glitter most effectively.  So ... tiny circles and glitter!  That's my plan for next week!  I'm excited!

I'm also excited that this installation-in-progress is being seen by all sorts of people including the cast and audience for Soda City Cirque!

(Cast of Soda City Cirque.)

Soda City Cirque is a professional circus and performance troupe specializing in aerial feats, fire tricks, belly dancing, hula hoop acts, slack wire walking, juggling, acrobatics, clowning, stilt walking and more.  Last weekend at CMFA, there were two, family-friendly performances of the troupe's newest dynamic work, "We All Fall Down".  This coming weekend features two more opportunities to see the show:  Friday and Saturday at 7:30 PM.  By the way, Soda City Cirque has partnered with Turning Pages of Columbia, SC, a non-profit dedicated to improving adult literacy in the Midlands.  A portion of the show's proceeds will be donated to this very worth non-profit.  Tickets are available HERE.

Everyone going to see the performance will be walking through my installation-in-progress.  Now, it doesn't get much better than that! 

I am linking this post to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Fridays", a site for sharing fiber arts.