Presenting Mr. Pig

I decided to mount my Mr. Pig painting and frame it for a proper presentation.  This is the Year Of The Pig after all and due respect must be paid.

I went with my Suliao Xuen Ban method again.  After the Xuan  paper was tailored and mounted to the proper location of the clear plastic, the fun began.

This is going to be a celebratory painting so I need to jazz it up a little bit.  I wanted it to blink a little.  I had some gold glittered Christmas ribbon laying around so I drafted it for my project.  I harvested the glitter by scraping the ribbon with a knife.

I didn't want it to sparkle like a Swarovski  piece, but definitely enough to make it noticeable.  Since the painting depicted a bountiful harvest with the stalks of grain, I applied a heavy sprinkle onto that area to emphasize its presence.

After the application of glitter, I sprayed the the painting and the plastic with Urethane.  The aerosol helped to fix the glitter and rendered the clear border semi-opaque ( newspaper is blurry now in the background).  It also helped to provide additional shielding from the elements.

I built a frame with poplar for the piece and painted it gold to adorn my painting, befitting a regal and auspicious year.   I wanted quiet simplicity and  elegance.  Two holes were drilled on the vertical member of the frame for hanging.  A small hole on the inside for the transparent fishing lines to pass through and a larger one on the back side to hide the knots which secured the fishing line.

The fishing lines were threaded through a short piece of heat-shrink tubing.  This little tube would fit around the lines snugly once a heat source is applied, i.e. with a heat gun or a flame.  I chose to let it ride freely on the lines.  This was meant to be an added protection of the lines from abrasion.  Just an insurance policy against premature breakage from normal wear and tear.

My set up allows the frame to sit perfectly flat against the wall without any tilt.  Fishing line was used such that it is less obtrusive through the semi-opaque border of the plastic piece,  accentuating the float effect of the painting.  I hope to create the illusion that Mr. Pig just appeared in thin air.  He is a diety after all. 

Here is the framed piece.