For quite some time I've been working on eleven pieces in the Nike's Advice Series. The first two were completed and shared HERE. In that earlier blog post, I recapped the public art event during which 130 feet of painted canvas was created and how the series started. It also mentions the hair-brained idea of pouring UV filtering epoxy over the saved, stitched sections and using 3/4" copper roofing/slating nails to attach the work to wooden stretcher bars.
I was really pleased with the results but there was a delay in the progression of the work. I was temporarily out of both epoxy and the pretty copper nails. While waiting for these orders, I carefully painted the sides of the stretcher bars in colors to coordinate with each piece.
(Above: Nike's Advice IX, detail.)
Foam-centered board was cut to the outer dimensions of each stretcher bar. The edges were also painted. The boards were glued to the stretcher bars. Then, the stitched artwork was gently glued to the boards ... just a few dabs of glue. On the earlier two pieces I learned that "more glue" wasn't necessary. In fact, gluing the piece to the foam-centered board first tended to warp. Borrowing from the 1960s Brylcreem advertisements: A Little Dab'll Do Ya!
(Above: Nike's Advice X. 26" x 20 1/2". Assorted paint on unprimed canvas with free-motion embroidery mounted on painted stretcher bars with copper roofing/slating nails and UV filtering epoxy.)
The glue only needed to keep the two layers of stitched canvas in place. The actually "attachment" between the stretcher bars, foam-centered board, and canvas was the copper nails. These 3/4", large headed nails were hammered all around the perimeter ... one at a time ... intentionally at slightly varying distances from one another for a truly "handmade" look.
Between the painted sides and the nailed perimeter, the edge of these pieces provide a nice, professional finish. There's no need for a frame ... which is rather a novel approach to artwork for a custom picture framer like me!
(Above: Three, one-pound boxes of 3/4" roofing/slating nails from Jamestown Distributors.)
Ordering nails by the pound is probably an every day occurrence for those in the construction business. For me, it was amazing that such small boxes contained that much weight!
Most of the nails were hammered into place. The ones at the corners, however, were glued into pre-drilled holes. I couldn't risk hitting the V-nails that are used in the mitered corners when building the stretcher bars.
At the time of this blog post, there are still four more (larger) pieces needing epoxy. Why? Well, I would have run out of copper nails. Four pounds wasn't enough. This didn't matter though because I decided that "pretty" galvanized/silver roofing/slating nails would look better anyway. They were ordered and soon I'll be able to share the last four pieces.
After all the nails were hammered into place, Steve and I started mixing and pouring the UV filtering epoxy. We can only do two of the smaller pieces at a time. The plastic covered work table in our garage is only that large. Epoxy is very, very sticky. Elevating the work is important ... so that the pieces don't stick to whatever they are laid upon!
The propane torch is used after the epoxy is poured. It isn't the heat but the carbon monoxide fumes that release tiny air bubbles in the epoxy. Mixing the epoxy also produces odorless fumes. This is why I'm wearing a carbon-filtering ventilator mask. We are running out of heavy-duty latex gloves. During this COVID-19 health crisis, ordering more gloves isn't possible. Generally Steve is wearing a pair too, but recently he is using shrink-wrap plastic shaped like a bread wrapping. We've used rubber bands to keep them on his arms. They are sort of like "plastic mittens" but they are working! I might go down to one latex glove on my right hand and one "plastic mitten" on my left. Where there's a will, there's a way!
Nike's Advice XII was stitched first with a lovely, heavy red rayon thread. I thought this would look great but it didn't. These pieces just seem to need the outline of black thread. Once the black thread was added, the red thread looked good too.
Photographing these pieces has always been a problem. The UV epoxy is highly reflective ... so much so that the resulting images generally include the reflection of the camera and tripod and whatever "background" is behind them. I've attempted to take photos on my front porch after shielding the background with pieces of black foam-centered board or by hanging black curtains. It was never quite right.
This week, I hauled two 96" x 48" pieces of foam-centered board up to my studio. The track lighting in my studio has color-correcting bulbs. The angle seems perfect. I attempted to block the reflection of my studio with the foam-centered boards. It seemed to work ... at least better than any other attempt.
Nike's Advice XIII also has a variation. I hand seed-stitched the central area. It was a lot of work but I like the results.
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