the metal
Creating the covers was a complex multistep process. Once the original concept had been drafted, the front and back cover logos were drawn onto two sheets of masked stainless steel (see step 1). The artwork was then cut out with an exacto knife, and the outside areas of the logos were unmasked to expose bare stainless steel (see step 2), which was painted to resemble a star field (step 3). Once this had been achieved, the remaining masking was removed to expose bare metal within the logo (step 4).

the oil
The next step was to create two oil paintings that would reflect into the exposed stainless steel areas into the camera to complete the work (step 6).

the film
once the composition on the canvases had been properly laid out and the oil paintings completed, the next step was to capture the composite images on film. due to the necessity of joining two separate photographs to create the double fold , the colour density of the front and back shots had to match exactly, in order that they would appear as one seamless work (yes, it would have been easier to do one big piece, but we weren't thinking about that at the time).

The setup of the camera, stainless steel pieces and the oil paintings was critical. Any distance or angle that was incorrect would spoil the composition of the combined piece (step 7). Lighting was also a problem, a matter of trial and error each time the shot was attempted. In order to properly expose both the steel and oil paintings, unequal amounts of light had to come from two different directions (step 8). A cramped working environment (Jeff's parents' garage), lack of professional lighting (an overhead and slide projectors), and the availability of a single camera further complicated matters because in order to reshoot one cover the other had to be disassembled and later reassembled if the shot didn't turn out (believe me - it didn't turn out a lot!). After a multitude of test shots, weeks of shooting and many, many, many rolls of film, a perfect set of prints was achieved (step 9). This, however was not to be the end.

one more for the...
All that was left at this point was to take the negatives in to be enlarged to album size, and have colour separations made. When the sole set of master negatives were taken in to be processed, the technicians at the film lab managed to drop them on the floor, step on them and destroy them. This meant that both shots had to be redone in their entirety. A few weeks and many more rolls of film later, a final set of prints was again achieved, which were then sent (after one final fiasco to be covered in Volume 6 of the Moonwatch Comandscript) to France to be colour separated, printed and become the cover for "Of The Sun + Moon"