"This is my entry in the Nibblefest Art Contest, a themed art contest beginning on the 20th of each month. Please be sure to search for NFAC to see more great entries, each starting at just 99ΒΆ. Thanks!" This piece is a chasing on copper cut to be an ACEO. Chasing is a technique where lines are inscribed into metal using a series of small chisels and punches. The story: The Ugly Duckling In Twelve Movements An egg lays in the tall grass untended, lost. From it emerges a baby that is taken to be a duck, but not one that fit well with the idea of being a duck. Compared to the other ducks, he is ungainly and awkward. He is ashamed that he doesn't measure up to being a duck at all. He was laughed at and scorned by the other ducks. Wherever he goes he is ridiculed and ostracized for his ugliness and his inability to fit into the world. One day upon the moor, he sees an incredible sight, a flight of swans. They are beautiful, he thinks. "If only I were one of them instead of being this ugly duckling." He turns and swims away, ashamed of himself. As he bends his head low, he sees his reflection in the clear water. "why, I am not a duck at all. I am graceful, not awkward. I am not ugly at all. I am beautiful. I am a swan!" he swam back to the other swans and they recognized him as one of their own. As we all go through life, let us find what we are and not what we are expected to be.