Thursday, November 6, 2008

magnolia leaves redux

Yesterday I wrote that I was posting about two new pieces and only got to one. Here is the other piece -- it all started with a run in the park with Sanja (10 months yesterday!) several months ago (when she was tiny).


We came upon some fallen magnolia leaves. They were stunning. I gathered them up, sad that I could only find four (mindful of art's need for odd numbered items). At home, I promptly put them in the scanner. I left space for the fifth (phantom) leaf:


Time for digital play. First nice result:


And then:


Nice, subtle, good for printing to make fabric? Then I played some more:

Ooh, this is fun! I tried printing these on silk, but my printer was not cooperating. Everything came out dull. Time for plan B.

First, I carved a stamp with an interpretation of the magnolia leaves:



Next, I remember some woven leaves I had seen at Target. I found them (not an easy feat), and painted three with diluted acrylic paint.

With a chocolate colored paint, I stamped the magnolia shapes on some cool blue fabric. I sewed that to two sides of my (poorly) printed fabric. Here is the top before the leaves were attached.


I stitched the veins of the leaves, and attached the Target leaves with Misty Fuse. To make the leaves pop, I used #5 perle cotton to create big stitches around them. Final result, Magnolia Leaves Redux:


This has been mounted on plexiglass and is in the show (opening reception is now tomorrow night!). I have since purchased a better printer, so I will be experimenting with printing these images again...

Ta ta for now!

3 comments:

frazzledsugarplummum said...

WOW...Love this piece, especially the chocolate brown on blue and the outlining in perle. Thanks for sharing the process...it is a real treat for a novice.
Shirley

Norma Schlager said...

Wow, indeed. This is a stunning piece! I like all of the manipulations that you did with the color. Will there be another quilt?

Vivien Zepf said...

Wow, from me too! This is great. I enjoy (and learn from) reading all the steps leading you to your final piece. I love all the different manipulations, too. Can't wait to see what comes next!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...