Deep Sea Ballet in Fiber - Scene 3

I'm ecstatic to report that I completed my 38"(w) x 42"(l) "Deep Sea Ballet" whole cloth, art quilt last evening.   I'm quite excited about it and am chomping at the bit to post a picture of the entire piece; however, as mentioned earlier, it may be exhibited in August, so I still must wait until the exhibit has opened.  Thus, only close ups of some elements will be posted here.

Henri Matisse's work, La Danse, was a constant inspiration as I created this work.  Perhaps you can see how Matisse's painting influenced the "Deep Sea Ballet" fiber art work.

In order to accentuate the suggestion of water movement I inserted piping between the top and the batting and stitched on either side of to create a raised effect an upward motion.

 I created upward "floating" sea flora by sewing together strips of hand dyed stretchy fabric.  After the strips were sewn together, I slashed the edges and then machine stitched the streamers to the top. The green ocean bottom image was made from a loosely woven scarf that I free motion stitched over the "base" of the sea flora and to the quilt top fabric.

To further suggest ocean flora, I hand cut a stencil from freezer paper and stenciled it with Setacolor opaque and transparent paints.

 Until August, this will probably be the last time I write about this work.  Once it is hung in the exhibit, I'll post a picture of the finished work.

Thank you for taking this deep sea journey with me.  It's been great fun.

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2015.  All rights reserved

Deep Sea Ballet in Fiber - Scene 2

...And the dance goes on...

Capturing the movement of fish through water with the use of a hand held needle punch machine offered by Keeling's Krafts has been great fun.  Watching the form take shape is quite exciting.  Below is the 2nd of four fish that will ultimately perform a water dance.

Needle Punched Fish #2

One element of the sea floor was made from a woven fabric and manipulated to suggest algae type growth.  Once the fabric was arranged in way that I wanted it, I tacked it with Bonash adhesive powder and then free motion stitched it to the bottom of the quilt.  I created another type of kelp image by dyeing a stretchy fabric, cutting the fabric into strips and then slashing the edges.  Finally it was loosely gathered and stitched along the center.  The edges were left free to suggest movement in water.

Lower Left Side of "Sea Floor" Bottom

Soon I will post the third of four fish that will finally take their place in this Deep Sea Ballet.  Until then...

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2015.  All rights reserved