Neptunes Garden
by Ellen Miles

I finally finished my piece for the Titanium challenge. It is titled "Neptunes Garden". After much consideration, I decided my piece of Titanium had a texture that looked like an ocean floor landscape. It has shades of deep blue and bronze. I consulted my trusty Audubon Field Guild to Seashore Creatures and started sculpting the scene. Yellow Sea Whips, Nutting's Sponges, Clubbed Finger Coral and two types of Sea Stars capture the Titanium. I traced around the Titanium and created a frame, then added all of my elements. I then made a back piece and attached and fired this together. The Titanium fit snuggly within this framework, but I decided that using a chemical bond would be best to insure that it stayed in place. I dipped the piece in liver of sulfur and achieved some beautiful blues and burgundies, but it seemed to detract from the Titanium. I ended up polishing much of it off.