Day 252-The Making of My Mud and Mirror Mantle

I finally started on what I thought was the trickiest part of the kitchen. I made these mud and mirror furniture including a stove with a storage compartment two Fridays ago on 3/6/2011.

These are  the items I had. The brown box behind was given to me by Asuka during one of our mini meets last year and the other 2 were bought from Daiso, our S$2 store. The more complicated piece to make was of course the low long cabinet 

The brown box was to be made into a low long cabinet with 2 doors for the kitchen. I first cut out the 2 doors. I also slit the bottom of this box to make legs. The balsa wood cuts like butter. I saved all the pieces that were cut out to make the doors.

These are some of the materials required for the door. The jewllery finding was used for the brass fittings to decorate the door. 

The next step was to spray paint the findings. I have learnt the technique of slow and sparse spray so as to create an instant rusty look. Yes, as the name suggest, just spray slowly and sparsely using a brown spray paint.

I also painted the doors and aged it to desired effect. Then I starting trimming everything to size and cut the findings for the bits I wanted to decorate my door.

This was how the doors look like after I glued all the parts down. Notice how only one door has a catch? This was because I wanted to make the other door a closed one whilst the one with the catch was to be opened. The closed door would have its catch done only after it was fitted back into the cupboard.

This picture was taken after I painted the fittings to assimilate slightly rusted brass. I thought the door looked a little too medieval for my liking. Although the motif chosen for the center was Indian enough, it also looked like the Fleur-de-lis. But I had already spent more than 1/2 the day just making these doors and it was getting dark so I moved on to Part 2. 

These are the materials needed for Part 2. Some of you may remember my attempt at making the mud relief artwork on the kitchen wall last May. Incredibly, it's been a year...anyway, I used the same plastic table cloth for the motifs. Cut out the parts that you want to create the desired design on the cupboard. 

Warning: This is a terrible picture and gives you a headache if you look at it for too long. But like I said, it was already dark. 

This part is what I call the mantle making stage, This is where I create the mud and mirror layer for the cupboard. I used Gesso for the 1st layer and spread it all over the cupboard but before it dries, I laid out the pieces cut out earlier to make the pattern.  I then apply more Gesso over the pattern without drowning the designs. By doing it this way, you can see the relief effect of the design.

This is what the cabinet looked like after all the pieces are gesso-ed down and the 1st coat of white paint was applied. I did not use glue at all. A few more coats of paint would be required to make sure the cupboard is dazzling. I think I painted at least 6 coats. 

Then came the easiest step. Fixing the little mirrors on the cabinets. The mandala is quite a common motif used by the tribal women when they decorate their furnishings. This step can also be done right at the end after the next step. 

As you can see working on Part 2 was way easier than Part 1. After I fit both parts together, this was how the cupboard finally looked like.

This is the closed door with the catch done after the door was fitted into the cabinet. The latch fitting on the cabinet was made with paper.

This one is of course the opened version. I have always loved slightly ajar doors.....

....this is why. Last night, I stored the cabinet with straw baskets and wooden cups to entice peeping. That's what ajar doors are for. Peeping into. 

Using the same technique, I did the stove. I will of course have to dirty it later but not yet. The white really appeals to me now.

This is my little side table, display shelf, cutting board and utensils holder. See the hole in the center? That is where all the ladles will go. I like this nifty little side table. 

Tribal women in India believe that spirit is present in all matter and in particular, the spirits within their homes must be respected and honoured. And the most common rituals intended to protect the home involve the decoration of its walls, floors and /or kitchen storage containers with sacred patterns-designs which prohibit the entrance of evil and encourage the proliferation of good. ---Mud Mirror and Thread.

Lippan Kam or mud mirror art is practised by women of the Ribari tribe.It is done with a mixture of clay and camel dung. Cow gum is used to stick mirrors. Originality of lippan kam lies in  adding no colour or only whites. Small round, diamond-shaped or triangle  mirror pieces are essential to lippan kam. Many a times mirror pieces are a little embroidered. It is a simple technique and anyone can do it.-----Design Flute