Chapter 6 Hard edge applqué

 

I couldn’t resist adding eyes to the geese and a few reeds as in the original image.

I only used one layer of padding – two would have been more effective.  I forgot to turn my tracing over so the birds are facing in the opposit direction.  I think I would have preferred them the other way.

The birds are attached simply by stitching an eye.  The feathers were tricky to stitch with all the points.

I have used simplified forms for the resolved piece.  I would have liked to put in wing feathers but knew it would look a mess.  The background was made by printing wax eggs, creasing the wax once dry to get a batik effect, before painting over.  The yellow birds are on hand dyd cotton that I had sprayed with walnut ink through a mesh which had not been very successful.  The two reddish birds are bleached cottonand are padded and together with thefree standing blue bird I made larger to contrast with the others and bring focus to the piece.  I added some shapes in a transparent fabric which I am pleased with as I think they give an added  dimension.  In the end I decided the feathers would spoil the piece so left them out.  I am pleased with the way it has turned out.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *