Riikka Kovasin - Paperiliitin: Mothers of Kalevala, Louhi

Heippa, it's again third week of the month, which means a new series for Seth Apter Creative Team. As May is the time for Mother's Day, I thought to go with that angle and mix it with Finland. This month the three-day series is about mothers in Kalevala, Finnish national epic. I'm drawing inspiration from one character for each piece and use a variety of mediums to depict her. You can find Seth Apter's site here (link) and more about the Creative team here (link). I've included a list of products to the end of the post with links to Seth's own store.

What the three posts also have in common, other than the topic, is that I'm using an image transfer technique in each project. The images I'm using in the pieces are from a website called Pexels. All of them are free to use, even without reference, but I'm always linking to the original photo I then edited for my project and mention the photographer if he or she is mentioned in the site.

Third thing that the projects have in common is the use of an old book cover as the base for the piece. This is partly inspired by the main source of inspiration, Kalevala. The covers are of different sizes and colors, mainly picked because of the latter, so I could go with the color theme I had in my head. I've also included pieces of the book spine in the main composition of each piece.

Today it's the third and final day of the series. Where as the two earlier mothers I have shared, Ilmatar (link) and Lemminkäisen äiti (link), are not major characters in Kalevala, Louhi is of another sort. She's the main antagonist, the powerful and mighty mistress of the northern realms Pohjola.

Where as the main protagonist, Väinämöinen lives in Kalevala, there's another country or city state to north of it called Pohjola. It is ruled by Louhi, equally skilled sorceress than Väinämöinen. Some of the verses called her as "the hag of Pohjola, with scarce teeth", but to me she's a captivating character. In the beginning of the Kalevala she wishes no ill to the heroes of Kalevala, but after loosing two of her beautiful daughters to the men of Kalevala and her husband murdered by one of these "heroes", she understandably grows bitter. Even though she is married, she's always referred as the ruler of the land, not her husband. Louhi is able to change shape and when the Kalevala men steal the mythical Sampo, the bringer of riches, she takes a form of a great eagle, lets her troops climb her back and flies into pursuit. Here's the link to Louhi's Wikipedia article (link).

For this piece I chose two birds as the animals. The other is raven, which skull is the focal point, and the other is eagle. I used the eagle in my photo transfer. The photo is credited to "Free Nature Stock" and here's the link to the original version (link). I guess you can see the editing of the photo before printing the most with this one. I wanted a bird with wings open, kind of landing onto a prey, but couldn't find one. I knew that the main composition was coming in the center so I just needed the opened wings. So, I copied the eagle, flipped it and added to the other side before printing. The open wings to me were the wings of the "Kokko", the eagle into which Louhi transformed to take on the stealing Kalevala men.

I say in the video, that I wanted this piece to be dark and business-like, like a business suit. Part of it is from the national epic as Louhi is depicted as the evil, malicious witch. But partly it's also about another literary source. Some years ago I read a youth book series called "Sammon vartijat - Guardians of Sampo" to my daughters. It's an adventure story drawing inspiration from the characters of Kalevala. In it Louhi is depicted as a cool-headed business executive, with almost limitless resourcess. Thus the business suit connection. Third reason for the colors come from the position she has. She's the sovereign of Pohjola, making business deals to further the well-fare of her people - again connected to the grey and black suits.

The main element of the composition is the bird skull. I used a mould to make it and then turned it to silver by applying silver leaf on top. Other elements I chose for the composition are machine parts like gears and a circuit, but also a metal plate, which made me think about an armor. It's actually from a steamer basket, but it turned into a piece of plate armor in my mind. I also added two jewelry parts to the composition as they reminded me about the style necklace separators that are used in Kalevala Koru's necklaces. These pieces of jewelry take their inspiration from the actual bronze age archaeological finds around Finland.

The shimmery details in the piece - like the glitter splashes - refer not only to the power and might of Louhi but also her as the force behind making of Sampo. Sampo was a mythical apparatus, creating wealth and prosperity. One of its sides provided flour, other salt and third money. Ilmarinen, a master forger of Kalevala, wants to marry one of Louhi's beautiful daughters and Louhi asks Sampo in return for the hand of the daughter. Ilmarinen sets upon the task and finally finishes this magical device, grinding wealth out of thin air. Sampo is left to Pohjola but eventually Kalevala men grow a grunge against the wealth it creates to their neighbors so they decide to steal it. Kalevala warriors get the Sampo to their boat and head home, but furious Louhi pursuits them in the form of Kokko. In the midst of the battle the Sampo gets broken and the pieces fall into the water, providing riches from the sea. The little silver glimmers are the pieces of Sampo, or glint of light upon waves.

For this piece I used the most time consuming of the image transfers of this trio. Whereas the first two are quickly done, this third version requires a lot of drying time and sometimes the rubbing to get the paper off might also take some time. The process is pretty straight forward, though. First you apply an adhesive to the place where you want the photo to be. I used soft body gel medium in my make, but it could be any gel-like, strong adhesive that doesn't react with water after drying. Then you place the photo picture side down to the adhesive, get rid of the air bubbles underneath and let the adhesive dry completely. After drying you remove the paper by soaking it with water and then gently rubbing the paper off.

Like I say in the video, I chose a word to represent the character I'm depicting as the last detail. I use the same stamp set for all of the three pieces, but naturally chose a different word. For Louhi I chose "Maverick". Louhi doesn't take orders from anyone. She's equally powerful as her Kalevala counterpart, Väinämöinen. Louhi has several beautiful daughters and she won't let any old fool marry them, she testes the suitors. Her concern is her realm, her people and she works towards their best. When she's faced with loss of her loved ones and the source of wealth of her nation, she turns into an eagle beast with scythe nails to seek revenge and to take back what is hers.

As said earlier, this is the final post of this series. I hope you have liked it! Which one of the three characters was your favorite? They each have their strengths and weaknesses, like we all. What they also have in common that whether they are given smaller or larger roles in the story, they are essential to it, driving forces keeping the narrative going.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend! Thank you for stopping by today!