The Fool

I've started my tarot art. This is the fool - not finished yet (no, my tarot people are not going to be headless). I decided to start with the major arcana and go in order, because I tend to work better with an organized plan. I plan to make them all go together so they can eventually be printed as a deck.

• Traditional elements of the card
• Mixed media, predominantly polymer clay
• About 7 by 10 inches
• Name at the bottom in stamped letter tiles
• Number in top left corner
• Element (earth, water, fire, air) in top right corner
• Very colorful and whimsical

This is The Fool. It has the common elements of the card: a person at the edge of a cliff with dog, sunshine, and knapsack of belongings. The air symbol in the top right corner can't really be seen well yet, because it's mica shift and will need to be sanded and buffed to show up properly. The fool's body and the cliff are canework, the water is made with individual snakes of clay, and the background is marbled clay (about 7 colors) with some light texturing.

Still to be completed:

• The head (see photo below), which is hand-sculpted and glazed with fine gold embossing powder. I wasn't sure if the powder would get all melty and disastrous, so the head will not be going in oven. Fortunately, the rest can be put in the oven more than once, so pieces can be added, and the whole thing can go back in for baking.
• The knapsack, which is going to be a drawstring bag sewn out of fabric with actual stuff in it.
• The hat, which I think will be a jester-type hat. I haven't decided on the medium yet - fabric, clay or felt, or some combination of those.
• And probably hair. I got some wonderful, colorful fibers but am still pondering the hairdo. Bad hair can ruin a whole piece of art, ya know?