I used silks for the leaves, and the camera has a hard time reading them because of the shine they give, so they look abit blurred, but I wanted to use a flash to show what I did with the bark of the tree. A few leaves have copper coloured sheer on top of them.
I layered sheers on top of swirly turquoise coloured fabric, and then did FME over the top. I used the heat gun to melt some areas back to show the underlying fabric. This created the texture of the bark, and the revealed glimpses is like the turquoise coloured moss that grows on some of our trees.
The leaves are free cut. Most are brought forward by having a dark leaf shape under a lighter one. Then most are caught down with a fly stitch, and highlighted with beads. The swirls of wind are done with dark and light copper metallic thread.
The binding is shot silk dupion, and is gold, but shifts to reddish orange. I feel I have crammed the swirl in abit, and perhaps would have had more freedom with it if the piece was larger. It is 8 1/2 x 11 in.
I added a no flash image of the piece I did. The leaves come out looking dark and blurry because the camera has trouble reading the shine on the silk (I haven't learned all the fiddly bits of the camera!) However, perhaps you get a better idea of the dark bark. The synthetic organza sheers were black on top of silver (giving a grey effect) on top of a thin turquoise and blue silk with paisley- like swirls.
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7 comments:
Hi Sandy - I love this little quilt. The graphic wind swirling the leaves is very evocative of autumn. I like the use of the silk for the leaves - it has a richness that no other fabric seems to match. I think the free cut leaves are effective - backing some with darker fabric brings them to the front.
This is another quilt that I wish I could see "live" and touch.
I would like to know more about the use of a heat gun to melt the sheers - would you tell about the process on the original FastFriday site? I suspect I'm not the only one who doesn't know how to do this and would like to know more.
Thanks,
Roberta
Me too! At least one other person, Carol Anne Clasper, mentioned burning off parts of fabric with a heat gun on her piece- and I am dying of curiosity, I love the effect that both of you got. I think using it to do bark was inspired- I just wish I could see and feel it myself!!
The quilting is great it really gives the quilt a swooshing upward movement. The bright colored leaves are bold against the background like falling leaves look on an overcast day... so vivid... ... this is a very striking piece. I think the binding you chose is a good compliment to the work.
Please tell us more about how you did this.
Wonderful! I really enjoyed this!
Jacque
The first thing I thought of was that the leaves were coming right out of the quilt at me! I love it and the motion created.
Jan
Hi Sandy, There's some great textures going on in this piece. I really like the surface effect you got with the background. Strong feeling of movement, too, with the quilting lines and how the leaves are placed. One thing to consider: It wasn't obvious to me that the background was tree bark...would there be more perspective (and depth), if an edge of the tree was shown and there was some sky or other surrounding showing a bit? Of course, that's probably my logical brain working and you may have intended this to be more abstract. And it certainly works as such! A really interesting colorful piece, good job!
Cynthia
Thanks for the comments!
I am glad the responses show that it came across as I wanted it to.
I think the bark in the piece in real life looks more like bark, as it is dark, but like I said, I wanted the copper stitching to show up. I might see if there is a way to add another photo to the same blog, which gives a better idea of the what the bark looks like. But you are right Cynthia, I was aiming for more of an abstract look...sort of using texture to evoke the idea of bark, but concentrating the attention on the leaves.
I will try to send some sort of message to the list about melting back sheers with a heat gun. If there is a link somewhere on the web, I will post that.
I have been away, and was a bit nervous about looking to see what the comments would be!
What fun swirls! I know what you mean about feeling crammed in. My stuff always comes out larger than intended for the very same reason, but yours look great and not at all crammed.
I love the layered leaves effect, adds interest as well as a suggestion of depth. The composition is lively and full of movement. I can just see the whoosh of leaves! I wouldn't change a thing.
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