Assembled Regression

Regression

As the end of 2016 looms, I've been looking over the goals I've completed this year and - perhaps in a bit of panicked, 'I've not done enough!' kind of way - been considering what I can achieve in the last few days of the year.

One of the goals was this one:

015. Create an assemblage

I've been procrastinating over this goal for ages, but today I finally knuckled down and got it done!

The items I used came from a number of sources, collected up over the years for this or that reason, or some found objects collected for another goal. The old London Transport Bus ticket (stamped for 7 old pence!) was found in an old book I found in a charity shop. The book was redonated, but I kept the ticket :) The screw goes through the punch hole.

Through this project, I finally found a use for some things that I'd been hanging on to for ages--a single earring, an escutcheon that ended up unsuitable for what I bought it for, a broken link from a watch.

This doll head has been floating around in my cupboard for years. I'd always intended to use it for a creative project of some kind, so this was another object that finally found a permanent home.

I bought this photo from a secondhand shop, intending to try out some photo embroidery. But I had no inspiration, so this sweet-looking lady lived in a stack of other photos and pictures cut from magazines for some time! Embellished with broken jewellery and a tiny hand, she has found her place.

The bottle was last seen in 'A Dose to Comatose', my photos from Delightful Aberrations' theme challenge a few months ago. I managed to stain the cork green with ink, and away the bottle went into the Cupboard of No Return (alongside some mental cursing) until I dug it out today and thought 'Ooh, this could work...'

...I could totally say I intended it to be that way, but I'm not a visual arts student, so I don't have to explain or give reason for anything ;)

The finished piece could have ended up several different ways, as once I'd set everything out that I'd collected, I realised I'd got a lot more than I needed.
But after some playing around, some contemplating of lightbulbs (yes, lightbulbs) and painstaking cutting out of a printed butterfly, I was ready to go!

Once I'd figured out roughly where everything was going to fit, I got gluing, using E6000 for the heavier stuff and the paper, and superglue for the smaller surface areas such as the clock parts.

A few parts of this were really fiddly (basically it's a nuisance to put screws in things when the screws are tiny and the space you have for your hand is also tiny) and I changed some bits/added pieces as I went along.

For a second attempt (the first being in school, and made mostly of boxes and plastic bottle tops) I'm really pleased with how this turned out!

And, despite what I said above about not needing to explain, this one does has a meaning of sorts (unlike my school-made assemblage):

This piece explores the concept of past life regression, and the lives uncovered through it.

The particular details of those lives are left open to interpretation--you can make up the stories behind those lives for yourself.

Well, I had a lot more fun making this assemblage than my first one. I think I'll put this up on the wall!