In the first generation, I kept everything pretty much on the same scale. In the second one, I played around. Some of the pieces are zoomed in on or off to the side. I hope to play around with this even more, doing close-ups of eyes or mouths.
One of the biggest evolutions of these pieces is the lack of uniformity. In the first generation, I felt that there was a sort of sameness throughout. Seen independently, I think they're like little jewels, but collectively, there was a "too polished" or "too produced" look about them. That mainly had to do with the crisp rectangles and even sizing. So with the second generation I "messed things up" a little. I roughly cut the sheet metal and drilled random patterns along the edges to give them a lace-like effect.
Another big step forward was working with color. The first generation had a classy, sepia tone and a vintage vibe. I liked that look, but I wanted to infuse some color and used alcohol inks, Gilder's Paste and acrylic paints to jazz things up. I was careful to mute the tones and work in layers to preserve some of the integrity of the drawings and to keep it from becoming too technicolor.
I also distressed and abused the surfaces of the pendant brooches a little. I think this is the first time that I've ever actually wanted to incorporate resin with air bubbles. It gives the pieces a little bit of texture and breaks away from the sanded, smooth finish of the first generation.
I'm really happy with the pieces. I think they turned out nicely and have lots of character.
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