Delivered

I delivered the commission fabric stained glass piece today!  I'm relieved that it's done....and even more relieved that Amy and Lisle seem to love it.  Phew!

Amy and Lisle are going to order a simple edged wooden frame that it will drop into...that's been the plan all along.  It will coordinate well with the other art in this corner of their family room and make it a bit larger to better fit the space.  We were pleased that the bright colors of the large painting were balanced by the vivid batiks in the fabric piece with the softer, smaller pieces in between. And I personally love that right now they have stained glass lamp sitting on the table...and I secretly hope it stays.

I mounted it on a deep edge canvas...and the black binding that almost seamlessly wraps around elevates it to an art piece rather than an art quilt. Kudos to Colorways by Vick Welsh. Vicki's black hand dyed fabric is so nice to work with...it almost looks like suede.  And I'm certain that most of the solids that are interspersed with the batiks are her hand dyed fabrics too.

Here's just a little glimpse into the journey.

Once again I worked on stiff interfacing making drawing the pattern and fusing much easier.  This time I drew the longer branches in red.  I wanted to make sure they were evenly distributed and to remember to use a little bit wider black strips to cover them.  The red marks really helped.

Using a sliver of soap for marking and a good pair of scissors I started puzzling in the pieces. 

I only lightly fused the pieces and once I had them all tacked on I just kept looking at it for few weeks trading colors here and there. It's so hard to tell without the black...but at some point you just have to go with it. 

Once I was satisfied I gave it a good hot pressing...with a pressing cloth of course....to really fuse the pieces in place

Then I started adding the black....small branches first...

...then the large branches and landscape, and finally the tree trunks. I numbered the trees at the bottom because I wanted #1, which were the closest trees, wider....#2 next and #3 in the distant being the skinniest.

It's always a bit nerve racking to trim it....but it has to be done.  I cut it exactly the size of the large 15 x 30 deep canvas. I cut the binding and added an inch or so of fusible webbing to the edge.

Once the binding was sewn on I glued the piece to the canvas using soft gel medium....another part that's a little nerve racking.  I have to work quickly....so no photos. Then I stretched the binding around the piece and fused it to the back.

I finished it late in the day last week....and brought it down stairs to photograph on the floor but it was already too dark.  But you do get a glimpse of our undecorated Christmas tree with one row of lights out....I need to work on that. Then again, maybe it's fitting to have some missing lights for this odd 2020 Christmas.  I thought the fabric actually kind of glowed in the low lighting...especially the row of sunshine yellows.

Thank you Amy and Lisle for trusting me with this piece and supporting my art.