Wednesday, October 6, 2010

More 3Dimensional Flowers

I have been working on 3Dimensional flowers lately and this is the second piece I have come up with. It measures 16X12 and is intended to be part of a group collaboration. The purple flowers reminiscent of the the others found in Amethyst Garden are composed in two ways. Two of these flowers are layered with  assorted synthetic fabrics and machine thread painted to simulate the lines found in nature. The other purple flower to the far left is made of color catcher sheets that have absorbed excess dye from one of my dyeing sessions. It too is thread painted but in a more subtle way since it is in a shadowed area. In fact, the purple flower to the far right was inked to appear slightly darker than the middle flower but yet lighter than the far left flower. The tiger lilies are comprised of various natural and manmade fibers layered together and finally overlayed with a sheer orange synthetic fiber. Each petal was assembled individually, thread painted and joined together to create the whole flower. The flower was inked and edges were painted with a mixture of acrylic paint and gel medium. The pistils were composed of fibers wrapped together and joined to machine wrapped cording for stems. The leaves and sepals for both types of flowers are made of dyed batting and attached by hand to the stem and base of each flower. Lacy ferns were cut from dyed silk paper and were an absolute bear to make but I am happy with the way they provide a backdrop for the lilies. Once the composition was complete, I layered the hand dyed, background and completely quilted it before attaching any of the 3 dimensional flowers. When I finished quilting the entire piece and laid the design elements back on it, I decided to change the composition yet again. Instead of having the quilted ferns as backdrops where the intended 3Dimensional ferns were to go, I moved the actual ferns to the other side to create repeat design elements from one side to another. Once I was happy with the final design, I proceeded to hand stitch each element down with matching embroidery floss. Edges were finished with a facing. In the end, these purple flowers are probably the same size as the ones in Amethyst Garden but it is the change in background that allows for the Tiger Lilies to be incorporated in a successful manner whereas with Amethyst Garden, the tiger lilies would have overwhelmed the whole piece. All in all, I am happy with the way both pieces turned outand love the way each one seems to take on it's own personality. My next project is a 3dimensional adobe house. Now that should indeed prove to be challenging!!!

2 comments:

deanna7trees said...

not sure if these are 2 separate pieces or the same piece repositioned. the bottom one is my favorite and it turned out beautifully.

Barb Forrister said...

Thank you, Dee. It is all the same piece. The top photo shows more detail and the bottom photo shows the entire view. Soon it will join its friends and make for a larger piece.