Sea Fever

As I shall be away on a residential retreat with my textiles group for most of next week I decided to write this post now.

We are given a challenge each time we go, which we try and complete ready for the next time.

Last time we were given the poem Sea Fever by John Masefield and these two photos of the sea. We can use any media we wish.

I initially wanted to experiment with different types of image transfer and make a book cover, but time was not on my side so I picked up some glittery foam letters from my local Hobbycraft store (sorry, I forgot to take pictures of them in their "raw" state) .and altered them.

I made a piece of fabric paper using the Beryl Taylor technique. I embedded tissue paper, dyed scrim, netting, organza, some eyelash yarn and glittery fibres along with printed extracts of the poem. I then heat embossed over the wording to create a resist before applying colour. For the sky and sea I mainly used dyes and the rocks were Lumiere acrylics - particularly the halocolours.

I then traced the letters onto the back of the the fabric paper and cut them out. I then bonded the paper onto Pelmet Vilene, although with hindsight I think this was unnecessary.

I free machine stitched in a linear pattern across the sky and the sea with a variegated thread and used a circular motion for the rocks.

A mixture of buttons, small beads and sequins were hand stitched to the rocks and the sea spray was just some glued down fibres and glitter.

I then glued the pieces to the foam letters and painted them. It will be very interesting to see how everyone else interprets the challenge,I'll let you know at the end of next week!