This is one of the first art projects I saw and helped Kitty do a couple of years ago. Everything about this uniquely Alaskan piece is Recycle, Repurpose, Reuse.

An old spruce slab about one inch thick. The face is the top of an old porcelain candy dish that had a crack in the bottom. The fur came from an old ruff that was worn out and needed replacing. In case you are wondering, a ruff is the strip of fur that goes around the hood of a parka. Yes, we still use fur in the Arctic. Not for style, but warmth.

The beaded head band and earrings came from...you guessed it...the dump. Someone threw them away as they were tired of them. Kitty has this amazing ability to see usefulness and beauty in others trash. She has been well more than patient with me in teaching me that new is not necessarily better. The head band that the beads are mounted on is an old piece of smoked moose hide. Just a scrap that she had laying around for what seemed like forever to me. When she found her inspiration, she knew exactly where to go to complete this beautiful three dimensional piece of art.

We had some liquid glass left over from a home improvement project that had been recently completed. We carved out an area shaping the head about an inch deep in the spruce, then glassed the face in, along with covering the rest of the slab. What a beautiful look it made.

As I said earlier, this was one of the first art projects I saw Kitty make and help her on. I didn't understand her passion with it then, and it took years for me to really start to understand. Thanks to Kitty, I have learned a completely new way of life that I enjoy more with every project we create.

Hang on, watch, and enjoy the ride. We are going to have a flurry of projects finishing very soon. You may get to see another one tomorrow. Sorry, I can't tell you what it is. You just have to wait and see!

ArcticArtique.Blogspot.com

Recycle, Repurpose, Reuse