Inspiration

We talked about getting inspiration for our project this session.  I thought you might like to see how my mind works and how I put ideas together until it starts to click into a design idea for me.

On my way driving home from Nevada I stopped at a rest stop in the desert and there were all these

huge ravens.  In the sun their feathers shown blue, purple and black.  I took these photos from my car window and thought I would love to do something with Ravens or Crows as a motif.

Then I looked on the Internet for photos of Crows and the one below showed up on Pinterest.

I looked at it for awhile and really liked that they were all in a bunch.  Did you know that a bunch of Crows is called a "Murder"?  

That intrigued me so I have decided to make a Vest featuring a "Murder", (a bunch of crows)

 I began drawing groups of crows and then tracing them and fitting them together.  Then I went to the copy shop and copied the drawing bigger.  This is an 8.5 X 11"  which I enlarged to 150% to get a scale that will be comfortable for me to paint.

 Here I taped a couple of sheets of tracing paper together and traced around the edges of my pattern.  Then I traced the crows onto the tracing paper so they fit within the pattern edges.

 I worked around darts by folding the dart and then tracing the birds head so when the dart is sewn it will move across the dart without loving part of the crow.  That is the plan at least.

 I traced the design onto my silk with gutta.

 Here I am painting the crows and trying to get to blues and purples to reflect in the black.  I considered clear white gutta and all black, but I like the color in it also.

 Since I took this photo I have darkened some birds and they are not as purple.  Now I've had an idea to include "Feathery Frays" in black, deep blue, and purple dupioni.  This project is getting exciting.
I hope you are also excited about your design.

Next week you need to bring your design in the scale you want on paper the size and shape of your pattern pieces.  I will show you how to spray glue and gutta the design to your fabric.  There was some misunderstanding last week.  We do not paint on the silk while it is on the paper.  You need a frame to paint the silk.  

So here again is the list for next week

Design pattern already to scale on the papers

Silk Fabric

frame for the silk and a way to attach the silk.  pins, clips, tape, tacks, etc.

gutta 

Seta Silk  or  Dyna-Flo   They are interchangeable so get either kind.  Joannes sometimes has Dyna-Flo Dharma has started kits for both.

brush  (I have a box of brushes in the lab)

palette

I will bring Frixion Pens,  Spray Glue,  and some paint.  

If you still need more information look back several posts and you will see more information about getting a design ready from the last silk painting session.