gothic rococo Archives - Page 5 of 24

Fire UV resin and Angelina Fantasy Film crown by Suzanne Forbes July 2020

There is a fluidity in the process of using materials that are themselves changeant.

I also love not knowing what I’m doing or if it is gonna work! It may seem silly, but working on these projects allows me to access flow state or what Keats called “Negative Capability“.

A poet, then, has the power to bury self-consciousness, dwell in a state of openness to all experience, and identify with the object contemplated.

Gieza Poke in crowns by Suzanne Forbes June 2020

I need to handle these materials, I want these beautiful items to exist, but I don’t need to keep them once they’re in the world!

So many of my mixed media projects this summer were donated to queer Berlin fundraiser raffles. I am adding value to the Berlin Queerconomy in every way I can!

Gieza Poke has done most of the raffles, on the live twitchstream of Gieza‘s Poke House in Quarantine. She made awesome and hilarious videos to promote them! Beautiful Keili won the wave crown, which was so perfect! Gieza wore the fire crown for the last Quarantine show.

Fire and Water UV resin and holographic vinyl crowns by Suzanne Forbes July 2020 outside

You can see the archive of the five months of quarantine shows, all of which were livestreamed, here, under the VIDEOS tab of Gieza’s twitch account,

I am continuing some fairly radical experiments with Angelina Fantasy Film and UV Resin.

I find working with iridescent and holographic materials so nourishing and stress relieving!

I have been making all kinds of earrings and necklaces and delirious glittering sparkling shapes!

These pieces are made of translucent, layered, heat-sculpted Angelina Fantasy Film.

I make armatures of floral wire and colored craft wire.

The Fantasy Film gets glued down to the fin-like armature with white glue – this is very tricky and doesn’t work consistently.

I think people who make fairy wings professionally- like for dolls- have more sophisticated techniques, like this hilarious Italian guy who uses an iron and Fimo liquid fusing gel.

Or you could use jigs to keep the wire armature flat. Then it would be much easier to glue down the film.

As soon as the glue is dry I use a lighter to burn, melt and shrink the Fantasy Film into curving, twisting shapes.

Once I have organic shapes I like, I start decorating the shapes with Swarovski crystals, jelly crystals, gradient pearls, and microbeads.

I use UV resin to attach the decor, sometimes flat to the surface of the warped film, sometimes skeins of microbeads floating above it in a transparent wave of resin. I use a wax pencil to pick up the tiny crystals and beads, one at a time.

It takes a long time! But I don’t mind. It’s mesmerizing and soothing to dot tiny rainbow bubbles onto a fin or wing of opalescent, changeant film. After I’ve added a good amount of decor, I start thickening and strengthening the Fantasy Film with drips and layers of tinted UV resin.

The tinted UV resin adds hints of color, more transparent shapes, and strength in areas where the film is brittle or fragile.

Spirals of metallic purple wire make jellyfish tendrils and UV resin coats the strands with tiny beads. The detail is infinite! I cure the resin in sunlight, sitting on our balcony with all my little bottles of UV resin.

Watching the materials sparkle in the sun is a great comfort to me.

And fiddly, absorbing work is good for my brain.

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Suzanne Forbes, a New Yorker thriving in Berlin. Crowdfunded documentary art made possible by the generous support of her Patrons. https://www.patreon.com/SuzanneForbes.

Tag Archives: gothic rococo

Fire and Water Crowns: A Sacred Heart and Waves of Love for Queer Berlin

I made these two crowns during June and July, which feels like a century ago.

The wave crown is made of holographic vinyl, cut into waves and shaped.

Then I added loops of wired beads and lots of opalescent crystals.

There is a fluidity in the process of using materials that are themselves changeant.

I need to handle these materials, I want these beautiful items to exist, but I don’t need to keep them once they’re in the world!

I am so grateful to my Patreon Patrons‘ support of my mixed media artwork, the place I feel safest with evolving and experimenting. It’s what I do instead of vacation 🙂 !

That time I made mermaid jewels!

I am continuing some fairly radical experiments with Angelina Fantasy Film and UV Resin.

These pieces are made of translucent, layered, heat-sculpted Angelina Fantasy Film.

I make armatures of floral wire and colored craft wire.

The tinted UV resin adds hints of color, more transparent shapes, and strength in areas where the film is brittle or fragile.

Watching the materials sparkle in the sun is a great comfort to me.

As my friend Gieza Poke says, when the hands are busy, the mind is calm!

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