Hearts!
Suncatcher production in full effect! Woot!
Stripes!
Lateral motion.
Digging how it undulates.
More pics soon…
The Wing
Ribbon Scrap Art Test #3 - The Wing
This one was either a labor of love or mission towards insanity. At this point I’m not quite sure what the answer is, but at least the resulting piece is interesting. This is SUPER dramatic in person.
And now for the close-up...
My initial inspiration for this was an owl’s wing, although it does have a bit of a fish-scaley look in person. This is a single winged owl at this point…
Here are some process photos of my journey:
First I free handed a wing shape on some scrap pattern paper...
Yes, I use markers when I draw my outlines. I have yet to find a chalk that lives up to my exacting standards. Usually it’s a Sharpie though…
Then I traced it out, with a bit of a hem, and cut out a piece of muslin...
Then I cut out a bunch of "feathers"...
I had to do this MULTIPLE times. This piece used up so much ribbon it was kind of ridiculous, and awesome because I have a ton of scrap screaming out to be used. I cut boxes full of diamond/rhombus shapes, out of the longest strips of ribbon in my stash, and kept them at my side during the layering process. I cut each piece at a 45-ish degree angle from the edges of the ribbon. These are all curling because my stash is stuffed rather tightly in to bags at the moment…
Then I started sewing them in overlapping rows across the wing...
I kept the rows pretty tight together, about 1/2 an inch between layers, and followed the contour of the muslin shape at the base. Check out the photo below for the x-ray specs version…
Row upon row upon row...
...upon row upon row upon row upon row upon row...
This is not a project for you unless you are insanely OCD. Like me.
Perhaps if, and only if, I feel a complete desire towards gaining symmetry with this project, then I might actually complete the second wing. Otherwise this may just remain an eyeless fish upon my wall.
I’m currently looking for a product that I could spray on this piece to keep the ends of the ribbon from fraying. Something like Dritz’s Fray Check, but that I can use in one fell swoop instead of on each individual “feather”. I need something that will allow for flexibility in the final project, is preferably non-toxic or low fume, but which will also keep the very ends of the piece intact. Any suggestions and recommendations are much appreciated.
~~~~
If you like what I’m doing, and want to follow along with my progress, please like the Crabapple Hideout Facebook page! Click on any of the photos above to get there, or just click here!
Ribbon Scrap Test #2 – Tulle
Tulle creates a lovely increase in translucence
My second test was created by sewing a bunch of random ribbon scraps to a piece of tulle. This dramatically increased the vibrancy of a lot of the colors! Surprisingly it wasn’t all that difficult. I was convinced that the tulle would bunch up and get runs a plenty. Fortunately this was not the case!
I can see the forest and the trees!
Unfortunately the piece I created the test on was rather uneven…
This is only a test...
Here are a few more shots for your viewing pleasure…
Lovely light shines through...
It almost glows...
It's all sunshine, nothing but sunshine...flashy...
I have a bunch more photos of this project posted to the Crabapple Hideout Facebook page! Click on any of the photos above to get there, or just click here!
Hey hey, ho ho, SOPA and PIPA have got to go. (This blog is going on #SOPASTRIKE …)
Today, we are striking against censorship.
Join the largest online protest in history:
tell Congress to stop this bill now!
Write Congress Now!
Join The Strike! and add this to your site
Fight For The Future may contact you about future campaigns. We will never share your email with anyone. Privacy Policy
Learn More:
Watch the video ·
American Censorship page ·
View the Infographic
Read SOPA on OpenCongress ·
Read PIPA on OpenCongress
The three most definitive articles on SOPA and PIPA: Free Speech, Problems, Security
Fight for the Future is a non-profit organization fighting for people’s freedoms in a new digital age.
//
PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.
Big ups to http://fightforthefuture.org/ and http://sopastrike.com for the embedded code above.
Scrap Test #1 – Ribbon on Muslin
Scrap Test #1 - Ribbon on Muslin
I used a light weight piece of muslin as the base of operations, upon which I layered random-ishly selected pieces from my cache of scrap ribbon. I am SUPER pleased with how this came out. Here are some close-up photos:
A close up with a little flash...
That is a very pale lavender thread, which just happened to be the color on my machine at the time. Coats & Clark Dual Duty XP 3820 to be exact.
I had originally thought that I would also include a shot of the back of the piece, to give you an idea about the randomness at which I threw the bits on, however I got so excited while I was doing this project that I lost all sense of decency and neglected to pay attention to the tension. There were a few runs that would make my grandmothers blush with embarrassment for me. Like, seriously bad.
Now back to some more sexy close-ups:
Pretty hot, right?
I really love the way the colors play off of each other. The shots above have some backlighting (courtesy of the lovely sunshine that we had in NY last week) accented with a wee bit of flash to make the sparkle-awesome-ness pop just a bit.
In the shots below I let the sun do all of the talking:
Layers and layers opening in to more layers...
I kind of feel like that photo doesn’t quite do justice to the complexity of color and texture that you get in person, but it gets the point across.
Sundoodles...
The sides will remain un-hemmed in the short-term, because I kind of like the rough look that I got here.
The original intent behind this test was to see if I could cut through all layers and utilize the resulting “fabric” to make something else. I can’t quite bring myself to cut it all up, now that I’ve gone and gotten myself all attached.
Curtains? Lampshades? Handbags?
When I was done adding ribbon, I randomly stitched around the entire piece to flatten all ends/sides/layers. A darning foot would be a lovely addition to my toolbox. I can make do with the straight stitch for now, but I think some more graphic doodles would look pretty badass as well.
All in all I think this took me around an hour to pull together, however I did get kind of lost in it so it may have been a bit longer.
In the next round we’ll get to explore the translucence a bit more. Onward to Test #2…
The Ribbon Scrap Art Project
As a result of working retail during the 2011 holiday season, at a cute local chocolate shop that prides itself in super adorable packaging, I have amassed a large quantity of ribbon scraps.
Why did I keep the scraps? Because I felt guilty throwing away all of that color. We do a lot of bows at this shop. Tons and tons. Plus, we use really nice sparkly ribbon. I think it’s polyester. Anyway, the colors are fabulous. Another plus: upcycling is badass.
I got my co-workers involved in saving them for me, and now I need to figure out something to do with all of them. You can fit a lot of ribbon in a tiny little box…and in a bag…or a few bags…
Hence The Ribbon Scrap Project
