Now for some Bling!!!

Well, those of you who know me, know I LOVE bling, and I love sunsets and sunrises.  I have been trying to do some textile work, depicting the sun as I see it.  This is one of the most recent sunsets I've photographed [I have lots of them].  I have zoomed into this frame quite a lot, which really alters how the camera sees the colours.  I am also including the piece of fabric that I used as a starting point for my work - a journal cover.  I dyed this fabric quite some time ago, and never liked it.  Prior to stitching, I sprayed some of the colour out with bleach, dried it, then painted over it with some metallic gold Lumiere fabric paint, as well as a brush here and there of Jo Sonja's Opal Dust and Textile medium.

I then needed to have something textured for the sun, so painted a piece of Tyvek with Metallic Bronze Lumiere/Metallic Gold, which when dry, was overlaid with orange organza and stitched lightly, prior to crinkling with a heat gun.  That was magic!!  I had the texture and the colour I was hoping for.  Before laying this on my prepared fabric, I laid on a sheet of Irisé film to give me the colour change and reflection I wanted.   Next came some long wispy pieces of orange mohair/angora wool which were already lovely and curly, and looked just like I imaged solar flares to be.  In order to get this all stitched down I covered it with a yellow chiffon scarf, cutting away the excess after stitching around the 'solar flares'.  I also cut away wisps of the Irisé film to expose the fabric with the dark blotches.  This photograph should show the lines of wavy stitching.

I'm quite pleased with the overall journal cover.  The sun has gone back slightly into the background, but then we only see it as a blur anyway.  I've beaded in some places and really had to stop myself.  I could have beaded for hours, but commonsense had to kick in at some stage, enough already!!  I also painted glue in lots of places and sprinkled fine holographic gold glitter over the whole piece.   I hope these photos will show the texture and the colour changes, as well as the 'bling' I got from the glitter.

I must say I have to admit to an embarrassment of riches with the lining fabric.  I received this piece in a prize package from 3CS a few months ago, and knew it was perfect for the job at hand.  Vicki Welsh dyes some amazing pieces, and I would love to say I could do the same, but alas, I've not come that far yet with my fabric dyeing [you only have to look at the piece at the beginning of the post to see that!!].  Some of Vicki's pieces are available here: 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/vickiwelsh

So, an end to the story of the Bling Journal Cover.......... now to think up some equally more bright ideas.