About two or three years ago a friend asked me if I wanted this 1/2 bust form (she was ready to throw it away). I said, yes! Of course I want it…. (it’s free!). So I took it home and started playing with it and all my garment samples. Then I decided that the 1/2 bust was just hideous. It really was. Here is a photo, you can judge for yourself!
Here you can see all her imperfections and the chips in the paint. She reminds me of Goldie Hawn & Meryl Streep in Death Becomes Her:
So I had this brilliant idea. I’ll decoupage her in her vintage sheet music!!! I drove all over town looking for vintage sheet music, only to find none. I thought, okay I’ll settle for old sheet music. So I took myself to thrift stores everywhere, but nope, no sheet music. Then I got desperate, so I remembered that I drive by a piano store every day on my way home from work, so I headed over there. They had LOTS of sheet music. When I asked the guy if he had any sheet music that was inexpensive that I could tear up…. the look he gave me: did not compute, ask again. Finally he understands that all I want it something that looks like sheet music and I don’t really care about what kind of music is on it. So he sold me a few copies of books of music that were defective in their binding. Great! I’m going to tear it up anyway.
So I headed home and started tearing up this music and I realized I could still give it that vintage look by dying the paper with tea! I did this once in second grade and I remember that the paper looked a little worn, older, and brownier. So over the course of the next week or so I dyed and dried the sheet music. Here it is dying:
Here is a photo of all my dried strips. I ran out of one tea and started using another, you can see the difference in the color of the strips. It’s more apparent in the finished piece.
Now when starting a project like this make sure you set up a work station for easy clean-up. When I was drying my dyed sheets of music, I set them on an old towel. I used the same towel underneath the decoupage project and jumped right in!
After almost 7 hours of decoupaging she was complete!!! Here she is, no name 1/2 bust. As you can see I used the matte finish for a more vintage feel and different shades of strips worked quite well. Now if there is only something I can do about her poor posture.
I am so proud of this project, I have to show off just a few more photos! The nipples and the corners were the hardest points to do, but the key is to use smaller pieces.
I thoroughly enjoyed this project! I have so much extra sheet music that I am now looking for other things around the house to decoupage. So far I have only found one small tin to decoupage, but do worry I will find other things! Now – back to my needles!
Oh! And one more thing. I am going to have a give-a-way withing the next week. This might (or might not) involve yarn and a pattern, but I’m not giving away any clues. So make sure that you subscribe or check in regularly!