The making of Odette & Odile

This years entry for WOW of course, began mid last year, and although the section 'Mythology' was full of inspiration for me, the work was largely driven by my wish to play with the material of plastic soda bottles. Driven by a desire to find a cheap, mouldable and firm material (leather and worbla are both great but not economical for large pieces) I found myself top and tailing plastic soda bottles, ironing them flat, then texturing the edges with a soldering iron, giving them a feathery appearance, and a little more flexibility.

Spray painted either black or white, the edges were hand painted with gold and copper paint.

 After a brief flirtation with idea of making the base in fabric, I felt the journey towards sculpture meant it was better to use a solid material, so chose aluminium sheeting. I made a large sandbag for shaping the curves, and folded over all the edges for neatness, rigidity, and safety.

Matt was super-proud of me when he saw I had made a jig for creating the wire hook-and-eye set up, but these got cut into individual pieces in the end for ease of use.

I had fun scrounging around markets and op-shops for shiny things - necklaces, glo-mesh bags, bits of fabric - who knew there would be sequinned camoflauge fabric?!! I even found the lycra bodysuit material for one! Along with laser-cut acrylic off-cuts from Reverse Garbage, these were all woven together with wire on a metal mesh base to form the necklace, bodice decoration and 'crown' for each.

The decorative pieces for the gauntlets were stitched together over tulle on an embroidery frame before glueing and stitching to the vinyl bases (vinyl also from Reverse Garbage, as was the lace mask for $1.50).

The white mask was made from lace fragments stitched together on the embroidery frame.

So this is what the back deck looked like during the process, and here is Matt, happily wedging himself between all the craziness for his morning coffee!!
Pegs and paper rivets which can easily be redone were very useful in assembling the plastic pieces - all in a downward alignment for the dark Odile, all angled upwards for the white Odette.

I was lucky enough to receive the help of greatly beloved TAFE teacher Carol Costa, who was generous enough to allow me to come and literally hang in her Stretch Sewing room to work out how to make the very minimal bodysuits to go under the bodices.

Carol, attempting to sketch ideas with my ridiculous feather pencil!!

The final explanation of Odette &Odile from Swan Lake:

A princess is changed by sorcery into a swan, symbol of life in many cultures, yet also referencing death, and the soul flying away – the ‘swan-song’. Swan Lake draws its inspiration from Russian and German folklore, and is a myth exploring the dichotomies of good and evil, love and betrayal, life and death, reality and fantasy.

A creature of the lake, the mirror-like meeting place of air and water offering reflection versus reality, the duality of Odette and Odile in Swan Lake often being performed by the same artist adds a further psychological layer revealing the struggle within the self.