For my theme, I have looked a little at what everyday life for Venetians is like. There are a number of issues they face, but I have chosen to focus on one: flooding. It is common-place in Venice. So much so, that if you mention it to anyone, they shrug and say it happens every year, but the slow damage to the ancient city is an unfortunate and inevitable consequence of living in a city of water with the global climate changes we are all undergoing.
So, I first take the inside of my third mask, a printed map showing the Venetian flood zones and an italian newspaper.
I tore up a sheet of newspaper, removing pictures and headlines: I only want random text.
Soaking the newspaper in glue, I pasted the inside of the mask. After it had mostly dried (I used a hairdryer) I tore a piece of the map to fit inside my mask, not quite covering the whole area. Then, keeping as much water as possible off the front of the map, while pasting the back, I fitted the map inside the mask and sealed it down.
While this was all drying, I set to work on the foreground of my decor.
I cut an 8 inch square of newspaper (with dense print on both sides) and carefully made an origami gondola.
This wasn't the first paper gondola I had created. I had a practice run a couple of weeks ago with an old map:
but I wanted to use newspaper. My 8 inch paper gondola was too big, so I made another one with a 6 inch square piece of newspaper.
It was more fiddly to work with and I was glad I'd had a practice.
I was a little fragile, so to ensure it would withstand gallery conditions, I needed to glue all the flaps down and varnish it (carefully!)
I also varnished the inside of the mask, while I was about it.
When they are dry, I will stick them together, but that is a job for tomorrow...
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