Thorns, thorns, thorns

The rose thorns I collected and trimmed on 2/7 have been drying for almost 2 weeks. I figured they were ready. So here they are, sitting on some of that putty stuff. They started out very black, but now look more of a dull brown.



Here they are, after the first coat of alizarin crimson (acrylic):



And here half of them have had 2 coats of the gold and the rest just one coat. I'm leaving them varied like that:



I'm not sure what exactly what I'm doing with them yet, but I'm planning to use them for the piece that will be in the 10x10 show at City Hall in March.