Semi-Detached Structure

SEMI-DETACHED

... or OMG! 

I completed a challenge! 

Meet Semi-Detached. 

I made the leaves about six weeks ago and left them alone until they provided the "I should do something with these" impetus needed to create Semi-D. Semi-D is created mainly from silk dupioni, which doesn't photograph very well, MistyFuse, and Timtex. I like the rigidity of Timtex, which gives the piece "structure". 

The tree-branch is made from Timtex and heat-activated, moldable batting, giving the tree-branch a slight three-dimensional curve. According to the packaging, the moldable batting gives rigidity and stiffness for handbags and totes. A fun product, and I shall try it again for something. 

The Timtex and moldable batting were covered in brown silk dupioni and cords made from silk embroidery floss,  Kreinik braid, and metallic knitting yarn (the stuff that looks like a ladder) were attached with a zig-zag stitch. The edges were left raw for a little bit of texture.

I should have used a much firmer quilt batting than bamboo, and next time I will quilt the backing and top before attaching such heavy add-ons. In order to keep some of the leaves from flopping around, and to secure the base of the tree-branch, I used some "450 Quick Dry Adhesive" - it's clear and dries very quickly. Some of the leaves are raised from the surface with large beads, which are glued to the background and to the leaf itself.

While I was writing this, my husband was vacuuming my sewing room (Yes, he really was!) and found something I thought I had lost. So I added it to Semi-D.

As a bonus (and because I haven't kept up!), this is a photo of Stream - the piece I used for inspiration when I made the leaves. Stream is over two feet long, and is over seven years old!

Ready for the next challenge!

Hi - from Dale

 Water Colours - water-colour paper, Pelikan water-colours, beads, metal leaf, hand-made cords, Perfect Pearls, silk dupioni, etc.

I was delighted when Gladys invited me to join this group and I am very much looking forward to the challenges and meeting the other members.

I am not a professional or trained artist. I used to make most of my own clothing and took courses in pattern drafting. (I thought I wanted to be an architect when I grew up, but found out there was a physics component ... then there was all that math ...!). Anyway, I made several wedding outfits - two of which were from patterns I drafted from scratch) before deciding that I needed to do something more "me". One of my first experiments was with fabric paper - before I knew there was such a thing.

At this particular moment, my sewing room has had two coats of fresh paint, the trim is in place, the new laminate flooring is down and the room is completely devoid of anything "art-quilty" (including furniture) because it's spread all over the rest of the house.

My husband and I share our home with a Chocolate Lab, three indoor cats and a almost-feral barn cat we had spayed and for whom we bought a $60 heated cat bed.

When I originally posted this as an email, my sewing room was virtually non-existent. However, I have now just about finished refilling the room. A rug to go under the desk (so I can spill paint, ink, and glue - and not ruin the new laminate flooring) and a blind will arrive sometime next week.

For some reason, we elected NOT to keep the filthy slime-green carpet that was lurking under the not-quite as filthy beige carpet. The slime-green carpet was glued to the subfloor. My husband had to scrape the residue off and nailed a new subfloor over top.