Revealing new figures

Detail of Unsung Muse by Gillian Cooper

And finally, here are the two new figures I’ve been making. At the private view on Friday at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, a number of people were asking how they were made (thanks to all that came along - I had a lovely time and hope you did too). 

Silk ready to be bondawebbed

Unlike the earlier figures, which were made of cotton, these are made from the silk organza which I dyed in pale colours to keep the translucency. 

First layer bonded in place

The organza was then backed with bondaweb, a layer of heat melting glue.  I cut it up into pieces and then laid them out on top of the shape I’d already drawn out.  I then bonded them together using the iron, before stitching them in place to keep them permanently together. 

Both layers bonded in place - a much richer colour

Using paper stencils and paintstiks, I added details, which once it was dry, I stitched around.

With painstik detail

Sounds simple – doesn’t it!  I now need to go and clean the iron and get rid of all the glue I’ve somehow melted on to it.  I’m not quite sure how it got there as I was so careful but as always some ends up on the iron.

Centre of one of the new muses

These figures are very different to the solid ones.  They also look very different when placed on a wall compared with hanging in a room.  

Hanging on their own on the studio wall

The colour is a lot less intense when hung mid-air, which is the main way I want them to be seen, so that you can look at the other figures through them.  However, I also like them on the wall with the rich, bright, intense colour; rather different to the others.

Hanging mixed in with some of the solid Muses