Batik Meets Stained Glass

I've wanted to experiment with batik fabrics and a stained glass look ever since I did this piece a year or so ago.  

And...after being nudged by some friends who are interested in a commission piece for a new space in their home we started brainstorming ideas....this was one of the pieces they were drawn to. Amy and Lisle have bought several fabric pieces from my shows....so they know what they were getting into with me.

                 So over the last couple of days I've gotten back to fusing as part of my concept development.....and I'm loving the meeting up of batik and stained glass! The black border in this photo was added digitally so I could see how it would look. I will bind this small quilt in black and mount it on a black canvas. Hopefully it will be a piece ready for a possible next show.

I forgot to take photos along the way....I almost never forget...but here it is part way through. I drew my design with a sharpie on heavy weight stabilizer and puzzled in the fused pieces. The shapes didn't need to be perfect since all the seams would be covered with black.

Using Colorways hand dyed fabric I fused all the side branches....I do them first so the ends get tucked underneath the trunk pieces. I use hand dyed fabric for the trees because it fuses securely. I missed one branch....do you see it?  

Finally I added the trunks and horizon lines....and that missing branch which didn't get tucked underneath.

I think there's potential here and I'm excited about where it might take me!  🌈

My Black Lives Matter journey continues....and sometimes I feel compelled to share something here. As with everything I write....you're never obligated to read it. 

I got very emotional last night when I saw images on the news of the 110 foot monument and statue of John Calhoun being taken down in Charleston, South Carolina. As recently as just a month ago I wouldn't have had enough of a context for it to affect me so deeply. But I have since learned that John Calhoun was one of the most despicable defenders of slavery and white supremacy.

About a week ago I read  another article in the 1619 Project by the New York Times  called Undemocratic Democracy and was quite troubled by this John Calhoun quote: "Liberty is a reward to be earned, not a blessing to to be gratuitously lavished on all alike - a reward reserved for the intelligent, the patriotic, the virtuous and deserving - and a boon to be bestowed on a people too ignorant, degraded and vicious, to be capable either of appreciating or of enjoying it."  Liberty....was reserved for the the superior race....the white race...and black people were to be bought, sold, and used so white people could hold and gain more power.  

And...just yesterday afternoon I had a conversation with Paul about white power and supremacy...giving me even more clarity for last night's news segment. Today....I dug a little deeper and I came across this article in the New York Times about this particular monument and the story leading up to it being taken down.  The mayor of Charleston said the purpose of taking is down is "not to erase our long and often tragic history, but to begin a new and more equitable chapter of that history."  

A councilman said "We are not on our knees praying today - we are taking action today. Racism is violent and evil, and is the foundation of an unjust America.  This system, it's not broken - it was founded and designed on violent, vicious evil racism."   Oy!

Just two years ago another article was written about the history of the monument giving almost no hope of of it ever coming down.  What a difference a few years makes.

Both journeys continue.