For this past website Wednesday, I worked independently outside of the allotted advanced sculpture class to work on my BFA show chairs. I worked for a long while looking at my chair and feeling as if there was something missing in the blank spots of the green Fran Drescher chair from the last time I had worked on the chair. So a majority of time went to sketching, cutting out fake models of what I had in mind and placing them on the actual chair to simulate the effect without wasting frosting or other important decorations needed for chairs. But after researching and looking at the reference photos I had of Fran Drescher closer I had noticed that since she has a passion for fashion with interesting weaved/checkered/gingham designs, why not try to create a type of pattern with frosting?
Having picked out green gingham for the skirt of the chair was a successful move after interpreting/channeling Frans sense of style in correlation to what she wears.
I then went on to choose a basket type of weaving design that would challenge my frosting skill and have it function as a seat cushion/headrest on a chair. So once I knew I wanted some kind of weft, tweed, or swirl pattern, I watched several types of baking/frosting youtube videos to see how to execute the basket weaving techniques . Below is one of the video link to which I learned how to basket weave frosting.
After practicing, I was able to successfully pipe the basket weave in about 4 attempts on the seat of the chair. Each time I had messed up I was able to scrape up the excess with a putty knife and save it by putting it back into the piping bag to try again. This process was a very challenging but fun time to learn and have made me feel like a better artist/baker for it to utilize more in the future.
After the weaving on the seat was complete I decided to accent it further by sprinkling on some light green glitter and color coordinating gems on every other weave to accent the chair with touches of green so that way visually it would not look like a big blank white spot on the seat of the chair. In addition I feel that the extra sparkle and gems makes the viewer and owner of the chair more welcomed and feel as glamorous or like royalty by being able to sit on gems.
After the seat and headrest was complete with a basket weave technique I then reached into my kit of piping frosting tips and decided to learn how to utilize a curved 'U" shaped tip that allows for making wide ruffles. Echoing the green gingham skirt of the chair, I utilized this piping on the arms of the chair to make it more dynamic in nature and visually balanced making sure its consistency in pattern was spread throughout.
Then once the arms were frosted I proceeded to place color alternating shades of green gems in the middle of them to almost seem as if they were nails that created a pressure upon the cloth material (frosting) and the chair making it gather and ruffle out in between the seems just like a real nail and fabric would behave. This juxtaposition between the fabric and the frosting within this piece are really engaging to me and only became stronger once I then went on to spiral wrap the bars of chair that supporting the back. this added a touch of the gingham in another spot on the chair that made it visually seem more balanced as well as make sure there was no "empty' negative space that I felt made the chair feel unfinished.
This chair is almost at its finish line I feel and will continue to be added onto with plans of wrapping the last bar in green gingham ribbon, green glitter sparked and sealed throughout the chair, and lastly a large decorative piece in the front of the headpiece if necessary after the other steps have been completed.