Surface Design Galore

Over the weekend I completed this little quilt piece. I like it a lot although I wouldn't go so far as to call it magnificent. But it's something that wanted to get made and it was important for me to take a project through to completion before moving on to the multitude of other projects in the queue.

Blue Streak started out as a painted warp scarf that was handwoven of white commercial bombyx silk and black handspun tencel. Feeling it was a bit too drab, I painted it with metallic paint, then felt it needed more. I cut it in half and made a hanging piece, untied the fringe that had been on it, and experimented with numerous possibilities for overlays. Before putting anything on top, however, I wrapped the piece for arashi shibori and overdyed it turquoise, resulting in the blue streaks. Next I outlined all the turquoise areas with metallic ink.

The piece I finally decided on to lay on top was a sample I stenciled with metallic paint on linen/rayon, after I unsuccessfully tried transferring a photo image on that sample. You can see what's left of the transfer in the background. Being the beader I am, I had to embellish the overlay with turquoise and abalone, my two favorite stones to work with.

Then the piece wanted to be quilted, so I needed a backing fabric. In earlier posts I uploaded images of a couple of hand dyed fabric possibilities, and I finally decided on the first piece I dyed. I found some poly thread that perfectly matched the metallic gold ink, and I hand quilted the entire piece. Yesterday I bound the edges, made up and sewed on a hanging sleeve, and beaded the edges. And there you have it.

I've always said that if I were a carpenter, I'd be a finish carpenter. Because I love fine hand work. I also really like making quilts although I am not intending that the majority of my art cloth will end up as such. It is awfully compelling, though, seeing other artists' dye-paint-discharge work end up as little quilts. So who knows?!

In other matters, the Surface Design Association is having their online auction, running through October 15, which you can check out here. Many member artists have donated fantastic work of all kinds to support SDA grants and scholarships. One of my pieces is available there...look for the piece entitled "Forest Night," and you might become the owner of it!