I'm participating in Seth Apter's Buried Treasure game - you repost a favourite blog post and link back to Seth's blog. This seemed like a great idea at the time but it has taken me all day to choose a post!
I was so tempted by the Wedding last year; and by the Southern Lands and Jealousy posts back in 2010. And there was such a mixture of enjoyment and sadness as I read over old posts going back to 2005 - so many things have happened in my life, change both good and bad - mostly good.
But in the end I randomly chose this one - a piece I made last year that has a quiet strength. It includes many of my favourite techniques - using vintage linens, hand-stitching, experimental leaving weathering in the garden and playing with paintsticks. I hope you enjoy reading about it - thanks Seth!
Sunday, May 13, 2012
time challenge
here is my piece for the latest international quilt challenge.
i wanted to demonstrate a process rather than explore an idea or a
feeling so it is about the effects of time and weathering cloth and
stitch.
i machine stitched strips of vintage linen, silk and cotton; then hand
stitched lines of running stitch in silk and cotton thread. there are
also a few loose clusters of french knots as a vague reference to the
pleiades - my favourite constellation.
i then stitched a labyrinth of copper wire which i hoped would weather and verdigris and colour then colour but quite early in the weathering process it became clear that this wasn't going to happened so i intervened with a stout piece of rusty iron. once the piece was rinsed of potential nasties and left to dry in the sun for a day or two i outlined the rust marks with red thread and burnished the centre with some copper and pale gold paintstick.
this piece took much longer than i anticipated: it needed much more macerating in the garden that i thought and we have had remarkably fine weather for most of the time it was out under the feijoa tree.... here it is before rinsing and gussying up....
i then stitched a labyrinth of copper wire which i hoped would weather and verdigris and colour then colour but quite early in the weathering process it became clear that this wasn't going to happened so i intervened with a stout piece of rusty iron. once the piece was rinsed of potential nasties and left to dry in the sun for a day or two i outlined the rust marks with red thread and burnished the centre with some copper and pale gold paintstick.
this piece took much longer than i anticipated: it needed much more macerating in the garden that i thought and we have had remarkably fine weather for most of the time it was out under the feijoa tree.... here it is before rinsing and gussying up....
5 comments:
I'm always intrigued by anyone who is willing to wait for their fabric to disintegrate. Yours is more lovely than most. Really like this. It's a great buried treasure in more ways than one.
This is so cool! I enjoyed reading about your process and love colors and textures in the final piece.
I am always mezmerized by quilts and in awe of the detail and time that goes into that form of art.
visiting from buried treasure.
HI! I'm visiting via your link on Seth Apter's Buried Treasure. I am fascinated by your weathering process and love the results! I'm always drawn to rusty, imperfect, tattered objects, but hadn't considered letting the elements do the work! I like your final piece very much!
I love the look of this piece. It's almost too lovely to bury in the garden. I have never tried that but have chucked a few unwanted catalogues under various shrubs to see what the elements do to them before I dry them out and paint them.
Hi Felicity, I am participating in Seth's Buried Treasure project and just popped in to say hello.
Love your treatment and use of fabrics and enjoyed looking around your blog.
:) Chris / CS Designs
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