Tactile art project: Mexican tin art

[kestrell]

The Art of Darkness blog has a link to this tutorial for a Mexican Dia de Los Muertos tin nicho or altar
http://craftingforcheapskates.blogspot.com/2012/07/tin-altar.html#!/2012/07/tin-altar.html
using disposable aluminum baking pans. I've investigated kits for making similar tin panels, and they are extremely expensive, so this idea is economically as well as artistically accessible, although I would opt for something less dangerous than Xacto knives and hot glue guns. Also, if you use some sort of black wash over the tin, you can get a nice antiqued effect, which makes it a great medium for creating spooky Halloween effects (think gnarled old oak tree, serpentine monsters, haunted house, etc.).

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

Xacto knives and hot glue guns are the stuff of which horror is made! I'd assume you'd love 'em.

Well, not really. Having professionally wielded an Xacto for several years, I can testifying that one can obtain a wide range of handles (differing widths and lengths). Also, I've found that the sharper the blade, the easier the task. Is it possible to use a ball point pen on top of a pie tin on top of the Sunday Globe to "draw" patterns? Then you could (theoretically) feel the guidelines with the tip of the blade, instead of getting your other hand into any bloody business.

Hey! Here I am in your journal proposing solutions to questions you haven't asked. Pushy pushy.

[kestrell]

I didn't explicitly ask the questions, but I think the general question of accessibility is implicit in almost all of our communications. I have a lot of anxiety aout using sharpobjects which I think is actually a holdover from when I was low vision and, while I intellectually understand that the sharper the blade, the easier the process and the less likely to result in accidents, I can't make myself actually pick up what I think of as scarily sharp blades. I also have a Kevlar-type [sp?] glove which I bought from someone vendor for blind folks, so I have something to protect my guide hand when I use sharp thingies.