This posting is about leaving it to the leaves! This time of the year, here in Maryland, on the east coast of the USA, I hate living in the woods. There’s a mountain of leaves that needs to be cleared away and this year, having been so sick, I couldn’t keep up with it. However, those feelings don’t carry over into my beaded art quilts. I use a lot of leaves of various sorts, as many of my pieces are based on garden themes. The photo above shows an enameled metal green leaf pin that I probably found in a yard sale or perhaps was given to me. I surrounded it with gold plastic buttons that have a green center, as I like to repeat bold colors such as what’s on the leaf pin out into its surroundings.
This next photo shows some shells that were dyed green and cut to vaguely look like long leaves. There are three of them shown in the middle of this pic. The natural darker striations in the shell didn’t take the dye the same way as the lighter areas, and so make for interesting ripples on the surface. Again, as in the first photo, I used a lot more green buttons to carry the color out further onto the surface of the quilt, and to suggest that these are all part of a forest scene. Needless to say, my green button collection is one of my largest ones.
Finally, here are some of my early attempts at dyeing fabric. I took maple leaves, painted them with green paint, and then pressed them on to white fabric. After they dried, I then ironed the leaves on the back side (so that the iron wouldn’t get messed up) to set the dye. I was able to get a lot of the veins to show up, as I had put the paint on the back side of the leaves, where the veins are thicker. However, this piece was done about twenty years ago, and the quality of fabric paint was not where it is today. Every brand I tried at the time made dull, flat looking colors, which weren’t very appealing to me since I could find commercial fabric with brightly colored leaves that I could just cut out and use.
As I said, I use a lot of leaves in my beaded art quilts, as so many of them have garden themes. My selection ranges from gold to all shades of green, and come in plastic, metal, glass, and beads. I’m always on the lookout for ones that are different from what I already have, and must admit, that the thrill of the hunt has overtaken me quite a few times.
Do you have a favorite material that you like to use in your medium? Do you have some other way of acquiring them besides just buying them?
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You can see more of my art work on my web site at www.fiberfantasies.com (be patient as it loads; it’s worth it), my spiritual healing work at www.transitionportals.com and can find me on Google + , Facebook (for Transition Portals) Facebook (for Fiber Fantasies), and Twitter.
To find out how to buy my art work, please check out “How to Buy my Art Work” in the “Pages” section to the right of this blog.
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