Blown Away

Wind was a really interesting and unique theme for V9-5's final challenge and I thank Misik for suggesting it! I had a lot of fleeting ideas, but settled on something that incorporated a chance to put some new/different printing techniques together.

Dandelions, to many, are just a nuisance weed, but, in fact, are an important part of the biodiversity of a garden. The dandelion is a pollinator species, providing nectar and pollen to bees and other insects. However, dandelions themselves don't need to be pollinated to reproduce. They usually reproduce asexually through a process called apomixis, creating clones of themselves, dispersed by the wind.

Dandelions aren't the only plants that make use of the wind to spread their domain. Many plants have evolved very ingenious ways to disperse their seeds as "helicopters" (like maple seeds) and parachutes, and spinners - all dependent on the wind. There's a really great article about how the wind helps hundreds of plants disperse there seeds HERE

I used a variety of simple printing techniques to create my piece, starting with the printing the grass on silk organza. This super simple silkscreen is made from freezer paper, cut and then ironed onto some sheer IKEA curtain panel. I made it a bit more durable and easy to handle by putting some duct tape around the edges.

Next, I cut some plant parts, leaves and stems, out of fun foam and stuck them on acetate to create stamps. These got inked up with fabric block printing ink and printed over the grass on the organza.

The blossoms were made similarly with fun foam and mounted on empty spools. And finally, the clocks (the seedheads) were carved on a rubber block and printed.

and VOILA....

....my dandelions.

At this point I cut up the printed organza into individual dandelion plants and sewed them together randomly. This was layered over a piece of silk habotai that was painted with liquid acrylic and the entire piece was machine quilted.

At last, the final touch was to add the hand embroidered dandelion seeds....and let them blow away.

This is the final piece for the V9-5 Living Planet series! Stay tuned for exciting changes for V9-6 coming up on September 1st. Meanwhile, I will be in France at the European Patchwork Meeting exhibiting selections from our Living Planet series....pictures to follow.