{"id":2891,"date":"2012-09-28T19:07:16","date_gmt":"2012-09-28T19:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/galeblair.com\/inspiration\/?p=2891"},"modified":"2012-09-28T23:28:24","modified_gmt":"2012-09-28T23:28:24","slug":"the-automaton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/galeblair.com\/inspiration\/?p=2891","title":{"rendered":"The Automaton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Words & artwork by Julie Loeschke<\/em><\/p>\n

…<\/span><\/p>\n

The Automaton<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

1867 – There were only a few weeks left until Sophie’s thirteenth birthday and she had again requested a doll.\u00a0 But not a baby doll – no!\u00a0 She would like a “grown-up” doll, maybe a princess!\u00a0 A doll, perhaps,\u00a0 that resembled the beautiful English princess Helena Augusta whose portrait she had seen in Papa’s “Le Petite Journal”.\u00a0 Fortunately, Papa had a friend, M.Lambert, whose workshop had recently begun to produce automatons.\u00a0 They were dolls animated by an internal clockwork-like mechanism.\u00a0 The doll created for Sophie would lift a scroll and appear to read it with moving eyes and lips.<\/em><\/p>\n

…<\/span>
\nThe big day came at last.\u00a0 The automaton, who Sophie named Helena, was received with cries of delight and showers of kisses for Papa and Maman!<\/em><\/p>\n

…<\/span><\/p>\n

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…<\/span><\/p>\n

Present Day – Sophie and her family have long departed this worldly stage, but the automaton remains. Helena now resides comfortably in her new home, the Musee Des Arts et Metriers in Paris.\u00a0 If you visit her at the right time you will see her lift and read her scroll, perhaps a bit more slowly now.\u00a0 And if you are very special,\u00a0 she will reveal the portrait buried deep within her of the young woman who loved her so.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Materials:<\/strong><\/p>\n

12×16 canvas board or stretched canvas (or your preference)
\nDecorative Papers<\/strong><\/a>
\nBlack Gesso
\nMetallic Paint
\nFancy Cogs<\/strong><\/a>
\nReliquary Trifoglio<\/strong><\/a>
\nTim Holtz Gears<\/strong><\/a>
\nBrads, Hardware bits & bobs
\nAluminum tape (local hardware store, Walmart, etc)
\nEmbossing folder or other embossing tool
\nBox cutter and steel ruler
\nAssorted images<\/strong><\/a> (see below)<\/p>\n

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Free download<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Instructions:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\n1.\u00a0 Paint the edges of both the canvas board and the stretched canvas.\u00a0 Extend paint beyond the edges for about 1″, both front and back.\u00a0 I used black gesso.<\/p>\n

…<\/span>
\n2.\u00a0 Construct box part of the reliquary.\u00a0 Set aside the front piece for another project.\u00a0 Paint the inside and front edges,again with black gesso.<\/p>\n

…<\/span>
\n3.\u00a0 Emboss aluminum tape (I used a circle pattern) and paint with black gesso.\u00a0 Wipe most of it off, leaving some in the crevasses to antique.\u00a0 Let dry and then attach to the inside back of the box.\u00a0 You will be splicing two pieces together to fit, but this can be disguised with the elements.<\/p>\n

…<\/span>
\n4.\u00a0 Assemble “mechanism” parts.\u00a0 Paint wooden pieces with desired color of metallic paint.\u00a0 Arrange the parts in layers to give the illusion of depth.\u00a0 The framed picture is one of the cogs with an image glued to the back and filled with Glossy Accents.\u00a0 The more variety in your mechanical element the better.\u00a0 Glue in place and set aside to dry.\u00a0 I used heavy wet glue.<\/p>\n

…<\/span>
\n5.\u00a0\u00a0 The images of the figure and the sky were enlarged by 150%.\u00a0 The box needs to fit in the center of the chest with about 2-2 1\/2 ” all around.\u00a0 Cut out your figure to help decide where to cut out for the box.\u00a0 Measure the distance from the bottom and sides of the panel to the outsides of the box.\u00a0 Place the box on the panel and trace around.\u00a0 Make sure it’s straight.\u00a0 Using a box cutter with a new blade and a steel ruler,\u00a0 carefully cut out for the box.<\/p>\n

…<\/span>
\n6.\u00a0 Paint the inside edge and out about 1″ from opening with black gesso.\u00a0 Dry.\u00a0 Glue the box into place with heavy wet glue.\u00a0 The fit should be snug.\u00a0 Make sure the front edge of the box is flush with the panel surface.\u00a0 When dry, turn the panel over and run a bead of glue all around the box to double secure.<\/p>\n

…<\/span>
\n7.\u00a0 If desired, decorate the canvas side of the stretched canvas.\u00a0 Place the stretched canvas face down and and glue the panel to the back of the of the canvas all around the edge.\u00a0 The box is now contained inside and doesn’t show. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

…<\/span>
\n8.\u00a0 This is the order in which I applied my images:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Sky-cut out around the outside of box as needed.
\n2.\u00a0 Mark on the focal image where the box will show through.\u00a0 DON’T CUT YET.Turn image over and glue lining paper face up to the area where the box will show.\u00a0 After dry, cut an X across the area where the box will be revealed.\u00a0 Cut to the INSIDE corners of the box .
\n3.\u00a0 Glue down any images that will be behind the figure.
\n4.\u00a0 Glue the figure to the panel, making sure that it lines up over the box.\u00a0 Weight and dry.
\n5. Very gently, bend the flaps back to reveal the mechanism.\u00a0 I started by curling them over a marker and then worked them into position.\u00a0 Attach with hot glue about 1″ from the flap tips.
\n6.\u00a0 If using a border, you may have to attach it at the same time as the focal figure.\u00a0 Just lay everything out and decide the order.
\n7.\u00a0 Attach the remaining elements.<\/p>\n

…<\/span><\/p>\n

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Hang and enjoy!<\/p>\n

Jules xo<\/p>\n

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InLinkz.com<\/a><\/div>\n

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Words & artwork by Julie Loeschke … The Automaton 1867 – There were only a few weeks left until Sophie’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25,5,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-julie","category-mixed-media","category-paper-arts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6473C-KD","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/galeblair.com\/inspiration\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/galeblair.com\/inspiration\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/galeblair.com\/inspiration\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galeblair.com\/inspiration\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galeblair.com\/inspiration\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2891"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/galeblair.com\/inspiration\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2903,"href":"https:\/\/galeblair.com\/inspiration\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2891\/revisions\/2903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/galeblair.com\/inspiration\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galeblair.com\/inspiration\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galeblair.com\/inspiration\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}