JOLLIETEXTILES

Here is my finished mosaic panel – rather a wonky shot but it will be lined up properly when it is mounted. I have really enjoyed this project, taking on something that I wouldn’t normally have attempted. The machine stitching was the speedy part, but the selection and cutting of the fabrics took a long time. Below you can see that my stitching was quick and rather ragged but it is finished and that doesn’t detract from the overall effect.

At the beginning of the project I took the time to make a full drawn out design. That has been really useful as I intend to do all sorts of things with it – firstly using the design to make a stencil. I have cut one from a large piece of actetate I had from the top of a Christmas cracker box, tracing the design with a fine liner pen and then cutting out the shapes with a soldering iron. The mosaic style design is ideal for a stencil as I didn’t have to give lots of consideration to how the cut out pieces would work in relation to one another as they are all separate. Below I have used the stencil on a watercolour background, stamping through with acrylic paints and outlining with black pen. Watch this space for more ideas using my newly cut stencil.

As a footnote, posting these photographs I realise that I have ‘missed a pebble’ with my machining. I’ll go back to it – I probably wouldn’t have noticed it otherwise – but just goes to show that taking pictures of our work is probably a useful thing to do. After I’ve posted my photos I usually delete them so I haven’t got masses stored, but having a simple record of your piece as you are working on it could be very helpful.