November TIF

So - better late than never? I have to say that the November challenge started out to be almost too easy. I should have known that would be the "kiss of disaster"!

Let's start at the beginning . . . SharonB posted the November challenge here. She challenged us to use typography (letters, numbers) as an inspiration. That led to lots of fun playing with fonts and WordArt and then distortions in photo editing software. I realized that I would have to stop the playing eventually and so I came up with a design using the letter "W"

This sample has been slightly distorted already. Then I tried some different repeats and rotations. More fun! That led me to this:

With that as a starting point, I started designing the fiber piece. I masked off the W shapes and did some spraying and dying of the basic cloth. Then I layered it with chiffon and stitched around the W's and also in a grid for the background. So far so good.

My plan (using the term loosely) was to burn away the chiffon so that the W shapes would contrast with the background which had been altered with stitching, paint, and so on. I dug out a couple of heat tools . . .

. . . which is where things went wrong - so wrong! It seems I am not entirely trust worthy with things that burn! Of course, some folks would think to test the technique on some scraps. Ha! We don't need no steenkin' tests!

At this point the back of the piece looks pretty good!

You can see it coming, can't you? Not only are there burned spots (all the way through!) but the chiffon melted into a nice, HARD, plastic film. So much for a lovely contrast between foreground and background! And that brownish color does not quite match the gold!

I'm not ready to give up! I just happen to have a newly purchased package of clear glass beads. Please note that at this point, it was still November! Sigh.

OK, enough talking already. Beadwork just takes more time. Here it is - the finished piece. Ta da!.

What to name it? "Ode to the Letter W" - or perhaps "Don't Play with Matches" - "How to Bead Your Way Out of a Hole" ???

At least now I can get started on the December challenge while it is still December!