In this edition of my newsletter I will show you a bit of one of my current projects. Okay, I guess you could say that I am creating paper dolls out of fabric, by scratch. These are going to be part of a large fiber art piece that will go into a library in Westcliffe, Colorado.
I am a member of an art quilter group called Westcliffe Art Quilters (WAQ). The town library asked us for help in commemorating the “Freedom to Read”. We are creating a wall art quilt illustrating how the library helps the community.
This project is our first collaborative effort. It has been interesting working together on this piece. This is very different than most of us are used to. Our goal is to have the piece complete by this summer. Each of us has taken a portion of the piece to create. Then the pieces will come together to create the art quilt.
This is my story of creating a portion of this art quilt.
The group started with a concept design (left photo above). We worked with the library to define what they wanted to be represented in the quilt. The story. Then we sketched the design and got their approval. The design sketch was enlarged. Each of us volunteered to be responsible for creating portions of the design. I got the vignettes of the people.
The concept design was a rough sketch. I needed to refine the concept into the detail version I needed. The right photo shows my pattern for one of my “people”. This is the Braille Reader.
Patterns are critical for my pigment patchwork process. (Okay, they are probably important for creating any kind of an appliqué design.) The pattern is used to create the pieces that make up your appliqué.
The next step is to create the fabric pieces that make up the appliqué. The photo on the left shows the pattern ironed onto the fabric, ready to cut out.
The photo on the right shows the fabric that I am coloring on to create the flesh-tones and the book.
I may use many different kinds of fabrics to create the pieces that make up my appliqués.
The left photo above is the colored fabric pieces that need to be cut out and assembled. Sort of like a paper doll!
The photo on the right above shows the complete Braille reader appliqué.
I created a total of eight (8) vignettes for the WAQ Library Project. You can see them above. I carefully packaged them and mailed them to Colorado. I am done with my portion for now.
When our assigned portions of the art quilt are created, the next step will be to put them all together and assemble the art quilt.
I will save that for a future newsletter.
Until next week!
Feedback on my 8-wk Get Pigment Confident (GPC) Challenge from Wendy B, a graduate of the Challenge. Thank you for the wonderful feedback Wendy!
