Monday, September 16, 2013

SUNFLOWERS

Recently I blogged about stenciling/printing some roadside foliage onto a few piecess of my hand felted/sun printed wool.  Read about it here.

So...now it was time to see what I could create with one of the designs.
My inspiration was a field of huge sunflowers which were at their peak of height and brilliance. Paper motifs are helpful for me to get a handle on the size, scale, shape for a composition.  I may or may not actually use them as templates....but the exercise of having a partial layout with paper is a good beginning. 
 So...with a plan.....I set about beading the centers of some sunflowers.  After I completed two it became apparent that no matter how closely I beaded, a bit of the lighther colored background was slightly visible.
 A Sharpie marker worked great to fill in the space where the beading would take place for the remainder of the flowers.  I could have used black wool or fabric as well....but this approach was far more immediate!

Stems, leafs and flower petals were cut and thread basted in position after the beading was completed.  To complete construction, each was hand embroidered in place.
 SUNFLOWERS  15" X 10"
Artist hand felted sun printed wool, stenciled with woodland foliage,
hand embroidered, and bead embellished.

**photos are clickable to get a better view......

 Detail - Sunflowers

8 comments:

Robbie said...

PERFECT!!!

The Idaho Beauty said...

Ah, the power of the pen! It really is a great tool with textiles. I won't tell the quilt police on you if you don't tell on me... ;-)

Lovely little arrangement here - and it seemed to go together quickly for you.

Anonymous said...

Mary I just love your sunflowers! Absolutely gorgeous.

Val's Quilting Studio said...

This looks like sooo much fun! I love the end result!!

val from myplvl.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Great stuff... and it does look like fun.

Lynette said...

What a pretty effect and layout. Nicely done. :)

Abby said...

Wow - lovely!! And your beading is so perfect!

Gemini Jen NZ said...

Gosh that is beautiful! Well done!