The tiger painting is now finished. The final step was making the frame. To do it, I cut a piece of 1/4" hardboard that was one inch all around larger than the tiger's board.
I used the metal embossing technique I learned in Michael DeMeng's class in April in Santa Rosa. The border is piece from five separate pieces of metal since I didn't have a metal sheet large enough for the entire frame. It was a tedious process. I began on the curve and cut as large a piece as I could from my 9" x 12" metal sheets. The pieces needed to cover the one inch border plus enough to wrap around the edge and secure on the back plus about 1/2" to sit under the tiger panel.
One I cut the first piece, I decided on my border design and embossed the metal. I then glued the metal in place and cut the next piece. Working in that sequence, I continued until the entire edge was covered.
I then needed to do the patina. When I embossed, I worked so that the painted side of the metal would be the finished side, but some of the paint rubbed off as I worked. So I sprayed the painted metal with workable fixatif so that the metallic paint would stick. I painted the Six Seconds bronze metal paint over the embossing and let it dry. I then applied the second coat and sprayed the patine on while the paint was still wet.
I let the frame piece dry over night then glued the tiger panel in place to finish the piece.
Actually, there is one step left which is to cut a piece of something (not such what - maybe mat board - to cover the back and the raw edges of the metal.
My embossing could have been better - I had some problems following the curve with the rolling texture tool - but overall I'm very happy with this piece!
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