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| This series was inspired by a week in Honduras and all of the beautiful smiling people there. To begin, I chose several photographs, did drawings from each of those photos, copied and enlarged them, and then created several backgrounds for the images. Here you see the enlarged copy of the original drawing and the traced major design lines with some prepared backgrounds. |
| Sylvia Weir Mixed Media Fiber Artist presents
Building a Series |
| The next step is to cut out sections of fabric using the line drawings created in the previous step as patterns. I like to use freezer paper as my template material and work from the back of the fabric. Each piece is then placed into position using the line drawing for placement. The fabric chosen varies but I use a large variety ranging from silk, cottons, wool, commercial fabrics and hand-dyes. I like to use fabric that adds to the piece. In this particular piece the background is Guatamalan woven and the shirts are scraps from my brothers' shirts in grade school. |
| Step Three: Here are the twins and the fabric sections pinned into place. I do not use any fusibles. Occasionally I will use a bit of regular glue stick but prefer to use no adhesives. |
| Step Four: I use a narrow zig-zag stitch to fasten all the fabric pieces in place. I don't worry too much about using a matching color, in fact, I usually use just one throughout the top. The bobbin is a medium shade of brown, gray, blue, or occasionally green. |
| Step Five: Here you can see the back of the pieces. Each fabric section has been stitched with a narrow zig-zag and I am using a medium brown in the bobbin. The next step is to mark from the back where the facial features go. I place the freezer paper templates on the back and stitch through them. |
| Step Six: Here you can see the top of the pieces with the facial features loosely marked. The next step will be the fun part. |
| Step Seven: Here is some of the thread work. I try to pay close attention to value rather than actual color. |
| Here are the nearly finished pieces. I'll mount these on canvas stretcher bars. They will be displayed as a diptych as they are twins. Other pieces in this series are under way and will be posted when completed. |
| Background photo is corn stubble of Nancy Crow Timber Barn in Ohio April 2007 |