The Evolution of Glory

Yesterday I talked about the things that sparked the idea for Glory, a work that is currently on display at the Herbert C. Young Community Center in Cary, NC.

Sometimes it’s a visual stimulation that sparks an idea – like walking ankle deep through colorful leaves. Sometimes it’s a technique I want to play with – like digital printing on fabric. Sometimes its’ a deadline – most often – it’s a deadline. This time it was the convergence of all three.

Step one – pick up a handful of irresistibly glorious fall leaves every morning. Scan them at a very high resolution (600dpi).

Step two – Cut my Fabrisign2 Cotton Sateen into the sized sheets I want. Realize that while 13″ leaves are amazingly cool – the canvases I’ve prepared for them are only 12″.

Step 3 – Play around in photoshop and smoosh in as many colorful leaves per piece of fabric as I can. Print out tests of each printer setting to figure out how to get the best color on the fabric. Print leaves. Go OOOH!

Step 4- Fuse leaves to timtex – or whatever super heavy stabilizer I happen to have on hand.

Step 5- Free motion quilt the veins of each leaf. Straight stitch around the edge, cut it out, then free motion zig-zag around the edges.

Step 6- 10 year old computerized machine finally fries the board. Go on Ebay and buy a Bernina 930 in frustration. I’ve wanted one for years anyway right? No computer. Workhorse! I’ll be passing it on my my kids. Give up sewing for the night.

Step 7- Borrow a friend’s machine, finish the edges. Use matt gel medium to glue each leaf to the painted canvas. Paint over the whole thing with gloss gel medium. I think I like the shine and it gives the leaves a bit more richness and depth but the stitching is still a wonderful element.