I tried to give the idea that it was a child's drawing of the experience. It needed to be much bigger than 8 1/2 x 11 inches, so it is more like 20 x 16 1/2. I don't normally work that big.
The background was a hand-dyed piece from Val Bennett, that was green and yellow, the yellow having 3 mandelas. I quilted it first, which I seldom do. This piece was quilted in a sort of child's picture of yellow daisy-like flowers in the grass. This set the scene even though the forest covers it. Sort of like the bit of the story when Alice is small, so it is a bit like "honey I shrunk the kids".
I used strange yarns to make a scary forest. They were made by sandwiching between layers of water soluble. But the creatures are also mixed in. They are cut from a hand dyed piece that is sort of an art cloth from Marion Barnett. I saw the koala and the wombat shaped creatures(on the right) in the cloth, and so started looking for other shapes that could be the other creatures. So, they were layered in with the yarns as if they were peeking between the branches. I stitched vine patterns from my machine using several colours, to hold it all together. It took me 3 goes to wash out the soluble, and finally I put the piece in the drier to get the fluffy feel back to the yarn. The creatures all have raw edges.
I laid this forest piece down on the background pinned it in place and then set up the faces for the creatures. They were a bit too nice, but when I started trying to work out how to do the faces with semiprecious stone chips, they got rather scary. I could tell when they were just right, because they just made you say ROAR with a big feral grin! After I sewed the face features on, I did the binding, and sleeve, before I caught down the rest of the forest layer with beads. The reason I did this, was that I wanted the forest to sort of come out of the picture by overflowing the border. you can only really see the beads when it is close, as they catch the light, but they are similar colours to the background and some of the creatures, and thus serve to pull all the colours together.
So this all was quite a bit different to how I usually work...the quilting, the binding/sleeve bit, the size, and even using all those yarns. I think it is a bit fuzzy, but I think I managed to get the look and feel that I wanted. I haven't got a clue what I will do with it, but it has been an interesting experiment.
Sandy
Posts
5 comments:
Oh Sandy, the colors and the jumbled feel of the forest perfectly capture what I've always envisioned when hearing this poem. The way you used the faces buried in amongst the other stuff is very effective, especially since they are not all focal points. Even the one obvious one is incorporated into the background.
And maybe it's because of the recent discussion about borders on the list and I'm more aware of them, but I think a narrower border, or more overlap from the fibers to soften it a bit might make it look less restricted at the edges. Overall, I think it's a great piece and I like the way you transitioned from blues at the bottom to the bright yellow green at the top with the purple sort of tying it all together.
Hi Sandy,
This is such a fun and interesting piece! The textures are fantastic and I, too, love all those half hidden scarey faces. No suggestions...I think it's good as it is. Congrats on being so adventuresome!
See you next round!
Cynthia
I love the playfulness of your quilt. The texture is wonderful and I love the hidden faces.
Great job!
I love your approach to this challenge. I think the child's-eye view of the scary faces is just wonderful, and the use of all the yarn for the texture worked perfectly. Great job!
I love all the little faces peeking out through the fibers, which make great texture by the way. Very fun. The faces are not too scary, but whimsical and cheeky.
Amazing job! I could see this as an illustration in a children's picture book, minus the binding. I would like to see it without borders, with the wonderful textures just spilling out.
Post a Comment