Sky Jewelry
If you have taken a glance at my twitter or facebook pages in the past few months, chances are that you’ve seen one of the many photos I’ve taken of this piece. I couldn’t help myself – this painting won me over even as I spend finger-numbing hours sewing each star by hand. There’s something about the simplicity of the image vs. the tediousness of the technique that is striking – and difficult to capture in photos! So forgive my “photo overload”…
It began with this piece of fabric:
After dyeing it light blue, I mixed up a batch of navy RIT dye and slowly dipped the fabric to create an ombre effect. I have very little fabric dyeing experience so at this point I was basically figuring it out as I went along.
Thankfully, it turned out exactly as I’d hoped:
After stretching the fabric onto canvas stretchers, I started painting in the skyline and added some brushstrokes in to deepen the faded look. And I couldn’t resist sprinkling some pastel-colored stars in the sky:
One of my secret wishes for this project was to finally master french knots, the one basic embroidery stitch that has always given me trouble. There are a few wonky ones in there, but I must say that I’m feeling a bit more confident in my french knots these days.
If you want a piece of the night sky for yourself, you can buy the 8×10 “Sky Jewelry” print at my etsy shop. Hope you like how it came out!
March 31st, 2012 at 4:27 pm
This is absolutely gorgeous Ally! Need to make some room on my walls so i can get the print. Are you selling the original too? I love that it’s worked on fabric.
April 2nd, 2012 at 6:43 pm
Thank you so much, Paulette! I am considering selling the original, although it’ll be making the rounds to a couple different galleries for the next few months so it would be a little later on. :)