The HOLE Story
I am in love with circles. The Ancient Greeks considered them the perfect shape. But finding new ways of working circles into fabric art can be challenging. Here is the latest idea to run amok…
This is the result of cutting out “holes” in my hand-painted kimono silk and filling them with dyed silk chiffon using reverse applique, then fusing a contrasting silk “donut” on the surface with free motion embroidery for good measure.
The holes that are cut out are made into fused circles attached as “fringe” along the bottom edges. Phew.
fun with the basics
I am now in a place where I can combine the dying and sewing readily; since the two studios are adjoined. So I have moved closer to using hand painted and hand dyed fabrics in all of my work.
There are so many techniques for color and image manipulation that it is often a quandry as to what to do next!
Of course there is the french sertie silk painting method..
but there are only so many things that you can do with the finished product…and it takes so long!
So a more spontaneous approach is the order of the day and as they say…the possibilities are endless.
The next challenge is the perfect image transfer, and I am closing in on it! Stay tuned.
explorations
Using the stuff on the cutting table left over from an assortment of projects is amusing in its total free-form mentality. Unfortunately the items have to be smaller and not for wearing as they are much more three dimensional in embellishment.
I am now allowing myself to give up stuff from long ago stashes…like the “three women” mini glass picture that I made years ago. I knew there would be a good use for it someday!
I just get so drawn into wondering what’s going on with these three women….oh the possibilities.
spring color
It was a little rainy and grim and perfect weather for working on taxes, but it’s also good to put a little color in the day.
The rule is to take the scraps from a couple of jacket projects and combine them into an extravagance; this one being the cover for a journal.
and one last close up for detail…
Motherhood
After two yeas of thinking about it, I finally made an art doll. I was right, it took ages, but what fun!
Jeff had given me a fabulous pendant by artist Candice Prior and it was the jump into inspiration!
a fab birthday present!
If art dolls are good enough for Louise Chisholm they are good enough for me. The problem is to resist making them everyday. More on that later. Here they are together. (The “wordbead” on her skirt reads “beautiful”):
Today I figured out what not to do and why I might be doing it at all. The past few years I have worked on two other wild women series, this looks like it could be headed in a new dimension…totally 3 D!
color happiness
Had to overdye these silk pieces a couple of times before I got what I wanted, and then had to talk myself into using them in the same jacket project, but I sure am loving them together now! It was a free motion stitching from hell on this one with the nubbliness of the rough silk.
With the scraps and a few others I ended up with a freeform silk fused applique bag. Was happy with the bronze compliment…roses and free motion stitching pulled it together.
I think adding the texture of the cheesecloth for contrast worked well; especially with the fused silk applique on top. hmm.
Oddacity Designs: the Creative Process 