The devil is in the detail

Week 10

All that cleaning yesterday raised so much dust that I have had asthma today and spent a good part of the day in bed.  Hence, it is almost down to the wire for this weeks challenge.

This is the second of my male faces from the roof of the pagoda.  I have finally found out that every face is different because they represent the lesser gods of the Hindu faith.  The artists did use the faces of people they knew as models for the castings.  So, I am treating them as peoples faces not gods as I have to admit I find that it doesn't sit well with my faith and makes me uncomfortable.

 

This is the first time that I have drawn a picture onto fabric and I used "inktense" pencils to do this. One thing I noticed about the male faces is that they all seem to have protruding eye and I just couldn't draw this effect.

 

I tried by adding a light water-colour highlight but it didn't work.  I just couldn't get that intense look.  In fact the face is rather effeminate.

 

Next was the quilting.  Completely uncharted territory for me.  Firstly I don't have the range of colours in my thread collection so I am going to have to buy some more to morrow to finish the bottom half of the face.  But I'm getting better at the stitching and will improve with more experience. 

Week 9

It is time to start on the faces that sit on the edge of the roof of the Pagoda.  I am not at all confident in my free machine stitching skills as yet.  (Only 9 hours so far, 290 to go.)

As the metal impressions around the roof were stylised I wanted my image to reflect this.

The first face is  the sun who is represented as a man's gold face.  I cut an applique piece in bronze fabric and then drew a face onto the fabric.  I didn't trace it as I wanted a folk art type drawing like I had seen on the Kantha embroidered  quilts.

I used a piece of fabric I had dyed for the background and a chalk pencil for the drawing as I knew this could be removed with an art gum eraser.  I then appliqued the main outline in place and sewed around the details in a thread which was the same colour as the fabric.  This held the fabric in place and I had a guide to follow after I erased the chalk pencil.  I then used a gold metallic thread to highlight the details of the face and hair.  I used a fabric pen to give a bit of shadow.  I then indulged myself by quilting the background with suns. 

Week 8

 

This is my last elephant.  I do have another elephant design but this will be for embroidery and there is no way that I could complete it within the set time frame. 
This is the elephant that stands out side the pagoda.

 

I thought that he looked out of place and a bit fierce.
I’m expecting him to charge at me and trumpet.  I thought that he would be for more relaxed in a forest, with no people or any expectations.

So, that is how I drew him.  I also wanted to practice my free motion machine quilting, which are not good.  ( That is one of my resolutions this year, to improve my machine quilting skills.) The only time I have done any was in a workshop with Pam, scared me right off.    Sewing around shapes is a good way of practicing.  I appliqued him into the trees and drew on the features that were too small to stitch. 

Much more relaxed!

Week 7

I took the image of a rolled up elephants trunk as the starting point for this weeks design.  I then transfered this image into photo-shop and chose a neon filter to highlight the creases in the trunk.

I then printed this image onto a sheer polyester fabric.  This changed the colours considerably but kept the main crease lines. ( I couldn't help thinking that the central section took on the look of an elephants eye.)  I was still thinking of the painted trunks of the Indian elephants and how I could incorporate this.  I decided to use a Japanese Chimera fabric to put behind the sheer.  I then mounted this over a piece of woolen batting so that when it was stitched there would be a greater degree of definition and texture.

Then came the question of how to stitch the design.  At first I thought that I would outline the highlighted lines with quilting but after the first line I realised that the look I was after would have to be hand stitched.  There went all my spare time for the week!

I have used hand dyed silk thread for the main part of the stitching and then supplemented this with rayon, boucle and polyester sewing threads of various thicknesses.  I used back and seed stitch for most of the stitching with some steam stitch and couching.I have then beaded the section where the trunk twists in on itself.  Here I drew on the idea of the gap between thoughts used in meditation.  These beads represent this gap, not only linking the elephant statue from the temple but incorporating some of the Buddhist philosophy expressed there.  By this point the design only faintly resembled the original image and had taken on a life of it's own.

By using layers of fabric and stitching I had tried to express the layers of meaning attached to the elephant in the society that the craftsmen who built the temple came from.

Design 6 - week 6

 

 

I had to step back and forget about making this design realistic.  I got a good representation by scrunching the fabric but it looked like scrunched up fabric.  I have now taken the light and shadow of the creases in the trunk and stylised them, concentrating on the line.  I used a cotton fabric and stitched in polyester thread using black, mid grey and light grey.  I think I could have used a thicker batting to accentuate the different levels although when seen with the eye and not the scanner the differences in the heights of the surface is quite obvious.

Week 6

The devil has got into this weeks design.  I just can't get the effect I am after.  I am looking at the detail in the elephants trunk.  I have zoomed in on a section of a trunk and the line and texture are fascinating.  So far I have tried pane velvet, velvet and toweling, all of which failed.  Then I tried grey batik and poly cotton.  Still no success.

Time is running out and I still want to do something with this pattern.  I think that I am going to have to concentrate on the line because I just can't replicate that pattern.