Fall Breezes

I used to be a part of a wonderful fiber group called LINT - it stood for Ladies in New Textiles. There were 12 of us, most of whom were teachers and/or exhibiting artists. We did lots of exhibits as a group - sometimes just new work and many times involving a theme. One of my favorites was the theme on "Transparency" We could interpret it any way we wanted and it was great fun to see how everyone approached it so differently.  I love working with leaves and sheer fabric so I thought it would be a good match.

I created a piece for the show that utilized silk organza as a backdrop (transparency) and image transfer leaves, floating down.

 I started working with photo transfer paper over 15 years ago when I wanted to re-create the beauty of fall foliage. I always used real leaves to copy onto the transfer paper (right) and then onto fabric. I liked using silk as it reflected better. Placing the fabric image next to the real leaf, you couldn't tell the difference except my fabric leaves didn't curl up and die. I also liked to choose leaves with lots of "personality" - holes, browning areas etc. to give them a more realistic look.

It was a challenge to figure out a way to assemble it so the leaves would appear to be floating down.

I used a clear monofilament thread and attached it between the leaf and a mirror image of the same leaf as backing fabric. If the leaf flipped to the back, the thread wouldn't be visible. The leaf would appear to be floating.

My handy husband made a wooden bar to mount the sheer backing fabric onto. It extended out around 1 1/4" - small holes were drilled along the bar and closer to the front to string the monofilament through. Another piece of thin wood was laid on top to cover the monofilament and small holes.

You can see the monofilament up close but from a short distance away, not obvious.

I did a very light colorwash on the organza and transferred images to create a more interesting backdrop. 

This piece will be part of a new exhibit opening at the NC Arboretum featuring the works of Mary Stori, Kate Weston and myself. We are hanging it next week and it runs close to 2 months.  Check my blog "exhibits" for more information. 

   If you're in the area, please drop by and take a look.