art by committee

As I near completion on the latest pillow (I'm hoping tomorrow at the latest), I can't help but think... I miss grad school. In grad school, we practiced art by committee - meaning if you had a problem or needed to make a critical decision, you asked for feedback from the other people in the room.

I'm trying to determine the surface treatment for this latest pillow, and I'm totally stuck. The first pillows - made from copper - had an oil painted surface. I liked this at the time, but I'm not sure it matches the more modern quality of the new patterns, plus, it doesn't protect the steel from rust.



My thesis pieces were powder coated - which protects them from rust - but then I'm forced to make some color decisions. (I have 100 lbs of hot pink powder sitting around, but I'm not sure how I feel about that. I've also got some brick red, and this nice matte brown - but I'm not sure how I feel about those in my current b&w phase.)



And of course all my current jewelry is bare steel that's been sealed with Johnson's paste wax. But with a larger area such as the pillow, its hard to get a consistent surface finish.



Plus, then there are other choices... powder-coating matte black to look like bare steel, powder-coating then oil painting, etc... I really miss grad school.