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Existing or being everywhere at the same time : constantly encountered — the definition of ubiquitous and so it seemed the appropriate name for my dandelion piece for the Twelve X Twelve challenge. (Link in the sidebar.)
Here are a couple of close-ups that are clickable for a larger view.
Here is the process I went through to achieve the final design.
I started with this photo of a dandelion gone to seed that I took on our trip to Woodinville, WA.
In Photoshop, I created the following design by using a filter to create a line design which I reversed to make the white parts black.
I knew that one side of this was too mushy to make a good thermofax screen so I cut it in half and mirrored the two parts to make a better design.
I created screens of this in 3 different sizes.
My original intent was to try to discharge to white on a black fabric. A chlorine discharge did not give the white color I wanted. I tested some thiox, but I did not have time to steam it and know that it would work before my trip to San Francisco.
I then turned to this overdyed piece of cotton that I had in my stash.
On a test piece, using Soft Scrub, I got this wonderful image – in bright yellow.
Discharging is not an exact science so I didn’t know what I would get when I used a larger piece of fabric.
I almost forgot to photograph this before I started stitching. The photo was taken on the floor of the car as we were driving so the quality is not the best!
As you can see, the fabric discharged in many different ways. But I was so excited to have the white areas where I could do the fluffy dandelions. I was fortunate to have purchased some hand-dyed Perle cotton in variegated yellows and greens. I also used an off -white Perle cotton. After I had hand-embroidered the dandelions, I was not sure what to do with the background. Machine stitching seemed as if it would spoil the integrity of the hand work I had done. I tried some linear background stitching – but that did not work. Then, I decided the wonky all-over stitching worked best. I am very happy with the result.
Be sure to go check out the Twelve X Twelve blog to see all of the varied and wonderful dandelions.
je suis une artiste textile en france et je suis enthousismée par tes techniques tes formes et tes couleurs et je suis en admiration devant tes quilts felicitation!!!
What a wonderful project. I am new to quilting. What is “Discharging” and how do you do it?
I want to do something similar with a blue fabric, hopeful creating a winter scene.
Thank you.
Gerrie this is beautiful,
this is fabulous gerrie, I love it. one question, what is soft sculpt?
Really super duper. There is much inspiration to be had in the most humble of things, in this case the dandelion. A lesson here for all of us.
Serendipity plus quite a bit of thought, I’d say. It looks wonderful, Gerrie.
Wonderful! I cannot imagine anything other than seed stitching in the background..
Wow! This is beautiful. Thank you for explaining your process and I am just in awe of the surface design. It does look like a lot gone to seed, and the scattered stitching looks like the parachutes floating off. Amazing work and an amazing group of talent. Cheers.
Gorgeous! An unqualified success!
Gerrie, This piece was pure serendipity for you, wasn’t it!! WOW!!!
Beautiful interpretation of the photo. I love the way the discharge worked magic on the background. Beautiful Gerrie!
I love this one!! In the small amount of discharging I’ve done, I’ve been most pleased with the discharging on hand dyed fabric. The colors that appear are so wonderful. I don’t think you could have planned a better discharge than this! The hand stitching is perfect. It really feels like a meadow gone to seed.
Fascinating! Thanks for posting the whole process.
Very, very nice!