A New Assemblage Project Underway!

I thought I would share some in-progress shots of my latest foray into assemblage and shadow box art. This one is proving a bit more difficult, mostly because I want to add lighting. Also, I really want to stick to only using found objects and thrift shop treasures in these pieces - no new stuff (except for adhesives and paints - it's hard to find usable glues and paints second-hand!). So...

Materials I'm using so far -

• A wooden cigar box (garage sale) - The wooden cigar box turned out to be perfect for this project. I bought several at a garage sale, now I realize I should have bought every one they had!! The sides are nice thick wood - mahogany, I think - but the back is made from 1/8" plywood and I am able to cut openings using a utility knife. 

• Lights from a winter-themed picture (garage sale) - The lights are orange LEDs and have a battery box and a switch. The challenge with these is that I salvaged them from a garage sale find and the wiring was a bit corroded. Not being an electrician and certainly not accustomed to working with such tiny wires, the re-wiring has been a struggle but a great learning experience!

• Small glass arbor with dried flowers (thrift shop) - This piece had a horrible little corn husk doll inside. She was evicted.

• Ceramic figurine of Girl (thrift shop) - placed inside the arbor and decorated with some of the acrylic crystals.

• Silk flowers (thrift shop) - The orange LED lights are inserted into the flowers and the lit flowers were wired into the arbor.

• Plastic doll face and arms (thrift shop) - Painted a dark metallic bronze and mounted to a section of book board. They will be glued into the corner and then collaged with vintage papers.

• Glue-on acrylic crystals (thrift shop) - Used for bling where needed!

• Covers from Reader's Digest condensed books (destash from Mother-in-law) - The book covers are coming in handy to use as walls and dividers where needed. They are really easy to cut with an Exacto knife and the book board is fairly sturdy.

• Photo from an old magazine (thrift shop) - to back the arbor and hide the lighting wires and such.

So... here are some in-progress shots, not in any particular order but I hope you will enjoy seeing some of the process for this piece. Please be sure to comment! Enjoy :)

The picture the lighting was salvaged from