Splinterlands Art Contest! // Week 69 // submission

I started this project at about the end of November, 2019 just after the Untamed came out. I started with the dark green yarn and whipped up some strangely seaweed. Then I made up some lighter colored "other" weeds to go along with the scenery. Oddly enough, that took me about 5 hours because I could not settle on a knot pattern that I liked. I finally thought.. eh... chunk it... just do something UUUUUGly with the dark green yarn and forget about being "precise" with the knots and any kind of pattern. I think that worked out actually.

Then I thought about what sort of monster that seaweed would be "feasting" on. The beta cards have that Sea Monster.. but that rummy thing can heal itself. Hmm... oh I know! How about that poor defenseless chicken? Sure! But oh dang-blabbit. I'm out of white yarn. Actually a mouse got into the skein and shredded it. Grrr. So I can't do a crochet chicken. And since the Untamed were just out, why not pick a water monster form that deck?? Aha, I have all the colors to whip out a Serpent of Eld. Mwahahahahaha -ahem yes... there is white yarn involved. I had to tie together a bunch of 12 inch long pieces to make up enough length to get it done. Tedious. But I really like how it turned out. Puffy-bobble eyes FTW!

And then a while ago I came back to that chicken idea. What if I could make an actual Chicken card and distress it to make it look like it's getting attacked? Oh.. GAME ON! I cut up a piece of cardboard from a box that once contained some crackers. I printed out a black and white image of the chicken card and hand laminated it to that cardboard. After the glue had dried and cured I colored the card with a blend of colored pens, markers, and wax crayons. I figured it should be a gold card because... eh... why not? After the color work was done, I smeared the front of the card in a layer of white Elmer's craft glue. Once dry I applied another coat and let that one cure. Repeating for a total of 4 or 5 layers. This was so I could properly distress the card. Making it look both water logged, and de-laminating as the Feasting Seaweed tears into its chicken dinner.

After all the bits and bobs were done, I had to make a base to put it all together. So I cut up a few rectangles of scrap drywall /gypsum board. After stacking them together I used masking tape to seal the edges of the boards. The intent was to aim for a sand color on the base, i.e. the bottom of a lake/sea. Masking tape is easy to color with crayons. I used yellow, a dark brown, and a few others to get the base done. Between each color I rubbed a soft bit of tissue all over the base to blend the wax from each crayon. After repeated blends and coloring, and re-blends I was happy enough with the way it came out.

With the base "done" I worked on the layout of what goes where. The background weeds went to the edges, the serpent gets stage right, and back. The other weed gets stage left and mid, while the chicken gets stage left and crunched! I used gorilla glue to set the flex rods that pose the pieces. This glue needs a few drops of water to activate, and then it expands to fill holes and set up. It looks like little piles of sand once it has set and cured. Which is juuuuuust fine for what I am doing with it here.

All in all I have about 20 hours on this thing. Since it has taken so long to get this done, I didn't really record the individual steps and work. I wasn't goin for perfection, so much as the concept, a little bit of humor, and just letting my mind wander and tune out. (feel free to tune it back in... I'd lose my head if it were not attached; it's way too small to be out on it's own) I also wanted to keep the materials somewhat simple to prove that you can do soooomething with the stuff ya have around the house. It's already given my kids plenty of ideas on things to make out of random whatsits they have laying around.

I think I might just post this and hope it lands in one of those Splinterlands "Art" contests. So what od you think? Should I give up my day job? (bwahahahahah-NOT) Should I do another one of these some time? Am I just crazy? ( yea, probably -hey, go drink some more coffee...)