Page 1
Decisions, decisions!! First of all I decided that I was going to use wire mesh!!! I started with flowers. I chose to use this yellow flower from Chapter 2 page 3. There were several petals and I could have three pieces of metal to be joined in the middle to be at the top with 6 petals that I could manipulate. I also decided to hang some stamens from the center.
My simple quick drawings of the petals, stamen and leaves. I decided to round out the bottom of the petals and each of the leaf projections.
Page 2
I chose the leaf pattern from Chapter 1 page 4. I would stich a heavy center with many rows and then outline each leaf section with one row of stitching and cut in between each leaf so that I could manipulate each lobe.
These are the models that I used for the petals and the leaves.
I used three shapes for the petals. The square bottom is the centre of the petal. I created 2 different sized leaves.
Page 3
Seed Pods - I chose this seed head with individual sections. I decided to made beads and hang them in a cluster.
Next question was how was I going to put these things altogether. I decided to thread a piece of wire through the centre of the 3 petal pieces. The 4 stamens (also of wire) will be looped over the this wire. The stem will also be a rolled up and twisted piece, using a piece of expandable wire mesh between 2 pieces of organza. The wires coming through the top of the petals will be interwoven into the wire mesh.The leaves and the seed pods will also be attached to this stem!!! Hopefully this will be a bit clearer as I progress through the project.
The paper mock up.
Page 4
My colour scheme. I have torched three pieces of copper with my heat tool.
Flower petals
For the petals, I backed the piece of woven wire cloth with an iron on soluble paper. (I removed the paper after I finished the stitching). I traced around my pattern with a violet Sharpie pen. First of all I outlined the petals with a cable stitch using variegated Treenway fine silk cord – colours vary from red to red violet. For the top thread, Signature Trilobal polyester variegated thread - colour – Primaries. For the rest of the piece I then used this Signature thread in the bobbin and for the top thread. A free motioned wavy pattern was used throughout the petals. I like the way the colours of the mesh and the threads blend together.
Page 5 Seed pods
For the seed pods, I backed the piece of copper woven wire cloth with a piece of violet organza using Wonder Under. I divided the piece into three sections and then marked 2 of the sections off into triangles. As you can see the one on the right is a variety of shapes and sizes and the one in the middle has 6 similar shapes. I decided at this point that I did not need another 6 seed pods. This time I used another variegated thread top and bottom …. Aurifil – Aurilex NE 36/2 – 100% polyester – colour 5868 – variegated violet, shocking pink to pale aqua. For continuity, free motion stitching in a wavy pattern. All edges were stitched.
For each seed piece, I made a bead by wrapping the triangular piece of wire mesh around a small crochet hook. It worked well! The beads were threaded on to a piece of orange copper wire and manipulated into a bunch!!! I created a hole in the top of a bead with a large needle.
Page 6
The 2 leaves.
A piece of burnished copper (not woven) was encased in a piece of green mottled organza. In the picture above the wire mesh is sitting on top of the fabric. I should have taken another picture of the completed leaves before they were incorporated into the final product. I placed paper cutouts of the leaves (above) on the fabric and mesh and stitched around the outside. Then I stitched several rows up through the centre. Each side of the leaf was stitched with many finger like projections from the outside to the centre allowing a reasonable space between each finger so cutting between them would not be too much of a problem. The mottled look of the burnished copper did show through to some extent. The thread used was from Thread Studio – 100% rayon – colour – Ironbark - variegated dark green to medium green to light grey green. It blended in well. The leaves were cut out and I manipulated the finger like projections into a happy arrangement!!!
Page 7 The stem
This time I used expandable steel mesh with a bronze coloured organza on both sides. More wavy free motion stitching using another variegated thread from Thread Studio – 100% rayon – colour – Stonehaven - from dark grey to medium grey to pale grey. The thread seemed to compliment the steel mesh and bronze organza. At one point I thought I might use the wires sticking out the top to join the stem to the flowers. In the end I used the copper wire. I only used half of the piece above for the stem (ie. the width was cut in half!!). The copper wires from the top of the petals were woven into the stem and then I rolled the stem up into a compact piece and then twisted the whole lot. The leaves were hand stitched onto the stem. The two ends of the wire holding the seed pods were threaded through the stem and tied together.
Page 8 The stamens and the threads.
The threads that I used for the project. I believe that they blended in well with the fabrics and the wire mesh that I used.
The ends of two lengths of copper coloured craft wire were wrapped around a small crochet needle and attached to the copper wire holding the three petals together. The individual petals were wrapped around a pencil and then pulled slightly so that they would still maintain a twisted product.
Page 9
The finished piece!!!!!
I feel that I have been quite successful. Each section has come out the way I had imagined. The colour of the flowers and the seed pods work well together with the seed pods somewhat subdued. Using a not so bright thread worked as did the organza backing. Unity was also attained with the wavy stitching throughout all the elements. The stem is sufficiently in the background and really serves the purpose of joining all the elements together. Use of the copper wire in several places is also successful. Maybe I should readjust the piece by bringing the leaves and seed pods down a long side the flower.
Actually, I am very happy with the piece.
