Bird and Bear Nicho

The base of this nicho is an empty crab meat can.  

It's a little deeper than a tuna can.

I washed it well and made sure to get rid of any odor. 

My next step was to draw and cut out a cardboard frame 

to fit the opening of the can.

I taped the frame to the can with masking tape. 

 Using my homemade air dry paper clay, 

I built up some dimension and ridges

on the frame and paper mached the whole thing. 

It took a full 24 hours to dry before

I coated the whole thing with Zinzer 123 Primer. 

The following picture is the completed piece.

I used an old greeting card for the background and some reindeer moss

for the inside surrounding edge.

The roses were made from my cold porcelain clay.

I used acrylic paints and dimensional fabric paints (which 

may be used on surfaces other than fabric). 

I coated the outside with Liquitex Gloss Heavy Gel Medium. 

Because of the depth and the visibility of the outside

of the can, it needed some embellishing as well. 

I haven't finished the back yet because I have to figure out

how and if I want to hang it.

It sits nicely on a flat surface, but I think it'd be cute hanging as well. 

Once I figure that out, I'll add a meaningful quote and my signature 

to the back and give it a quick coat of the gloss medium.