Monochromatic Challenge

The last challenge submission for the GOE Group was Monochromatic. I had no idea what I wanted to do and all I was thinking about was spring and purchasing seeds for our property. I was also consumed with bees...and learning all I could for our new apiary. All I could come up with was a flower...monochromatic was devastatingly hard for someone who loves colour. It was extremely hard to take a picture of the finished piece because it's 3D and the beads reflect from every angle.

I have details of the progress but it's way too many pictures.

I started out using flexi firm purchased from my local Fabricland.  Then I stitched stainless steel 20 gauge wire to the underside of all the petals. I gesso'd both sides, added cheese cloth & painted it with a gel matte medium & jacquard textile paint. Then I spread some molding paste over everything in a very random...scratchy motion. These are the brighter portions in the pictures because after you apply molding paste, those parts don't absorb the paint in the same way. After the molding paste was dry, I then applied paint & hand stitched for some added texture. Then I decided to add some encaustic wax over the whole top side of the petals. Once I did this the hand stitching actually changed colour & the embroidery was less visible. I wasn't really expecting that but I was reading a book called Hot Textiles...and that's what she did and I loved the effect. My pictures don't get as close as her professional pictures in the book so you really can't get a feel for that.

All the petals were stitched together and then nailed to a back board. I then worked on the center beading, adding sequins and stuffing in a donut shape so that the very center is actually recessed a bit for an added 3D element.

 Posting has become a very difficult task lately. Not only does one have to find time...but one has to find time where the computer is not in use. In my house this is becoming quite the task. Is it too hard to ask for a dedicated computer that has some speed to it. Is this growing world of computers one would assume that we could have fast service but I'm finding that it's getting slower & slower...and this "cloud" is bogging everything down. lol. I've been working on this posting in my spare minutes for days....crazy...In my next life, I will have a computer that works fast and I'll have all kinds of time for my studio.

If you want to see more pictures of the process...

The petals are in development stage.

I stitched wire into the back side of the petal, added cheese cloth for texture, painted & then added molding paste.

Yellow ochre paint was applied & rubbed off in order for the colour to sink in the detail.

This is the backside of the petal prior to it being painted.

Petals were then stitched together on the sewing machine around the center. I used ribbon as a stabilizer & give the petals some strength.

Then I added some Dorland's Encaustic medium to the petals.

In the bottom corner you can see some of the hand stitches. These pretty much, disappeared when I added the wax medium.

The shine is the heat setting of the wax.

The center portion was sequined & beaded.

I hand stitched around the doughnut shape in order to stuff the section.

Sequins were added in the very center.

Trapunto technique was used in order to puff out the flower center.

The excess fabric was cut away and the flower center was siliconed on to the petals and back board.

Completed.

Detail shots.