The first photos of each piece are not great (color and focus- color is still not perfect, but close), but show what started with. I was a bit distracted last week with beautiful weather for sunprinting, and played with lots of black paint (and a little color, too). I wanted to use one of the sunprints with some gold metallic ribbon and sheer fabric that I had.
The first piece above is the one I had planned to make, but by mistake I grabbed the wrong sunprint and ended up with the lower one with the more delicate foliage and flowers. The first one is nearly as I saw it in my mind... I added more stitching in the angelina butterfly upper right- with gold metallic and some black thread. I also hand stitched the ribbon down so it wasn't so "poofy", but not flat to the piece. The flower centers are halves of snap closures for necklaces, the letters on the side are aged gold looking metal charms (the red dots in the before pic are pin heads).
This is the piece I started with... I grabbed the narrower, more delicate sunprint by mistake and didn't realize what I had done until I was quilting with the gold metallic thread. I was going to just do the one piece, but the original one kept wanting to be done, and I had enough of the gold sheer for a second one. The lower piece has a in a narrower ribbon to go with the finer detail of the sunprint. The ribbon on this one is also lightly hand stitched into place. I added the letters for DREAM along the side because I feel the sunprint has a bit of a dreamy look to it. Since I had a sparkly butterfly in the first piece, I kept thinking about adding one to this one, but the angelina was too much. I pulled out my bead collection and used gold tone metallic butterfly beads- two tiny ones and one small one.Thanks again for the input, it really helped me to follow my original idea to the finish. I guess I am falling back to my floral design roots... Just pretty bunches of flowers tied with ribbons.... Even though the colors are not what I have used most of the time in the past, I feel pretty great about getting not only one, but 2 pieces done for this challenge. Both are about 12" high.
Now to see if I can get myself working on some of the challenges I have missed out on..... :)
Both of these are great pieces, Sue. I like the "poofiness" of the big gold bow of the top piece, especially as the color is echoed by the butterfly. That bow would overpower the delicate leaf fronds in the other, but the bigger leaves are themselves strong enough to go with it.
ReplyDeleteHi Sue, this is great. Both are very elegant. I think the bow is fine without being forced down, also. I think the angelina butterfly balances it well. I wouldn't try to knock back the colour on the angelina too much. It works well in a sort of 3way balance with the bow and the gold fabric under the letters.
ReplyDeleteI think the letters really add to the piece. That is the basic difference that I see between the two pieces. I am glad you are adding them. I think they would make a good pair.
The atmospheric black background makes this far more than just pretty bunches of flowers tied with ribbon. and since your specialist subject is floral design, don't disparage it! It is what makes your work stand out, very few of the rest of us have that sort of background!
I agree that they make a good pairing, especially if you add the word Dream. Sandy is right, this is your innate floral training translated into fabric. Sometimes a challenge takes us in a direction that wasn't our original plan, but that is serendipity. I love the black and gold. Once you have added the letters and the hanging sleeves, you are done!
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