Playing With Inkblots (In Silver)

Shiny and fun. Fun and shiny. And, sure, with the right master’s degree training, it’s probably a little revealing too.

I think Rorschach Inkblots always look a little like an uterus and ovaries, if that helps to generate any information about me and my psyche. Nonetheless, the symmetrical forms have always been eye-catching, and after seeing this Andy Warhol print pinned by Curbly on Pinterest, I decided I wanted to try one (or a few) for myself. However the print is used, in psych offices, college textbooks, or on Jay-Z’s book cover, it’s pretty striking every time I see it. And it’s shiny. Always distracted by the shiny. Also another psyche-related observation for you. I found it online here, FY-sourcing-I.

I’m pretty sure inkblotting is the first thing you explore when Mom and Dad let you play wildly with the finger paints after years of cautious tutorials (a psych analysis by itself), but as an adult, it’s still oddly fun to paint and smush, paint and smush, and see the random results.

For my own little interpretation of this famous piece, I opted to recycle some paper from a marketing collateral that Pete produced for one of his clients a long time ago. He has better work in his portfolio now-a-days, and the glue was so old that it came apart without making cuts. Meant to be. Thanks Pete.

The textured stock is nice. A little something more interesting than a smooth, satin finish, and of course, awesome since it’s f-r-e-e. I folded my first piece and started to play.

I chose to toy with two paints (already owned, another $0.00 from my wallet): Rust-Oleum Oil-based paint in Aluminum (shiny!), and some leftover Coastal Jetty Gray from when I refinished the office filing cabinets.

Oil-based paint, known forthright as OB is a ODB to clean, so I choose a painters brush that has seen it’s day and is almost trash anyways. For the water-based Jetty paint, I used a separate (less junky) brush. And, then I dabbled in making my own Rorschach art, with all intentions of trying to avoid ending up with 5 uterus prints.

One thing: It’s decieving how much paint is instantly absorbed into the paper, lessening the chance of the flawless transfer when the paper is folded and smushed. Use more paint than you think you need, but not so much that you end up with one solid blotch (I’m not sure what that would say about you).

Some I created were pure Aluminum.

Others were a combo of the Aluminum and the Jetty options, because I was hoping to achieve a mixed glossy-rich and shiny look. Interesting layered concept, but not my fave.

Still others were messed up. This one, I folded and mushed, and then got distracted by the phone. No bouncing back from that one, the Jetty cured like Elmer’s and then tore the paper apart.

My favorite piece was this one (the first one I attempted). Simple, with clean lines and shiny aluminum finish, it’s clear that I was a little more patient with this one than the later pieces in my little “series”. I dig it.

I liked it so much, that I pulled an old frame out of storage, cut a custom mat, and framed it. The frame itself, something that I found at a yard sale many years ago (clearly handmade and polyurethaned, but all hardwood with lots of texture). It may or may not have been the initial inspiration for me to create my own line of custom reclaimed frames.

The mat was made from a scrap piece of mat board. You know when you cut the center out of a piece of stock to create the mat opening for another piece of art? Save it. It’s still big enough to use for smaller creations. Voila. I even signed “merrypad” to it in a moment of late-night pride. And then promptly added “2/12” representing the February 2012 creation date, though the following morning I realized that it read like this Rorschach is the 2nd in a series of 12 prints. It’s not. Don’t be fooled. Sorry.

Reinterpret anything famous lately?

P.S. Thanks for the fantastic response to Thursday’s Apartment Therapy House Tour, I’m elated by all of the positive comments and wonderful e-mails. You’ve made it all worthwhile!