Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Panther Chameleon



I started this Friday morning, as soon as the challenge was announced. Most of the time since then has been spent sewing on beads. The rest went together quickly. I plan to continue adding beads - you can never have too many beads!

The background is a commercial batik, and the chameleon is dupioni silk. The beads are all #11 delicas. The eye is a cotton bead from India, and the leaves are two-sided, with a wire to help create the 3-D effect. Using beads for texture is one of my favorite ways to embellish, and the wire I put in the leaves makes it possible to bend them for a realistic appearance.

I had so much fun doing this that I plan to make a larger version; this one is 11" x 12" .

I would really appreciate any comments. I LOVED this challenge!

9 comments:

  1. Great piece, Marilyn! I can see where it would take you quite a while to do all those beads. The eye bead from India is my favorite - the swirls are perfect for the eye. The suggestions I have are to add a bit of a shadow under the legs and feet to anchor the lizard to the branch, and to stitch vein lines into s few of the leaves to add some dimension.

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  2. Your little lizard is really cute. It looks very much at home in the shade of the leaves. I like the idea of using wire in your leaves to allow them to bend and be positioned. Nice work.

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  3. Your chameleon is adorable Marilyn! All the detail work with the leaves and beads really do make the image pop. I agree with Ann in that some shadowing under/ behind the little guy could really anchor him. Nice work!

    Cherie

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  4. That eye was a PERFECT choice! You really can imagine it swiveling on it's own like they do. Good use of texture, and I really enjoy it!

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  5. You certainly have managed to get a lot of texture on this little guy! Makes me want to reach out and touch him. Your leaves extending out over the edges adds a lot of interest to the piece. Well done! I also agree with Ann's comments. You could also shade/highlight some of the leaves to show the layering.

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  6. Of course you loved this challenge. I can see it in your work. This is another one that cries out to be touched.

    I think this will appeal to kids of all ages. I love all of the different textures. Wish I could get closer to the beads.

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  7. While the chameleon is definitely the focal center of this piece, the leaf texture also adds interest, particularly with the 3-D effect pulling it away from the square shape.

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  8. This is just such wonderful use of textures and colors. It comes together in such a pleasing way that it cries out to be touched. Great job! Pam Clark

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  9. Marilyn, from my perspective your piece a wonderful interpretation of the touchy, feely challenge! I like how you've used the two colors of dupioni silk to create the chameleon color/depth, and the background that adds environment to frame the central image. I also agree with someone else's comment that the eye bead is perfect!

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