Month: June 2018

Supplies:

• 4 or more pieces of fabric, each around 9″ by 12″
• low-loft batting
• sharp-pointed scissors for detail cutting fabric
• a sewing machine and foot that are for free-hand motion quilting
• sewing notions: thread, pins, seam ripper, sewing needle
• beads
• fossil samples or photos for inspiration

Following the premise set in the book “Layered Cloth: The Art of Fabric Manipulation,” by Ann Small, I selected several fabrics that had a fossilish look, as well as solid colors, and stacked them with a layer of batting between the bottom and next-to-bottom layers.  I pinned the layers and used chalk to draw my fern design onto the top layer of fabric.  It was important to sketch this out first, as I needed to figure how the fern impression would be created with sewn lines, and cut out areas.  I had to plan how many layers I would cut through for each of the leaves and stem.

After free-motion sewing the fern outline, I wiped off the chalk residue.  The next task was to start cutting away the layers.  This can be a challenge because pointy scissors are apt to pierce through too many layers.  So I used a pin to catch and lift up just the top layer of fabric, then I inserted the seam ripper to make a small hole.  Now I could start carefully cutting with the pointy scissors.  I cut the top fabric away for each leaf blade, about 1/8th inch away from the stitch line.

Next I cut away two solid colored layers of fabric, slightly smaller that the top layer cut out.  This revealed a textured batik layer of fabric, which becomes the main fabric for the blades.  I now used my thumbnail and scraped the raw cut edges around each blade; this helped open the blades and tuft the cut edges so they would stand up.  After finishing the blades, I cut along the center of the stem, through three layers to reveal the batik fabric.  I roughed up the raw edges, and trimmed random threads overall to even things out.  I tried to iron the openings, but that didn’t seem to accomplish much.  My fern was complete, so I played with the finishing touches.

With thread, I tacked down a few spots of the top layer fabric to give it extra texture and creasing like a fossil rock may have.  Then I trimmed back the layers of fabric, tiering them so each could be seen, and I stitched down their edges.  I started adding beads, a few looked fine but I felt too many would be a distraction.  That may change over time, but for now I like just a few.  I used packaging tape to remove the last little bits of thread. My final touch was a thin binding.

My next exploration was inspired from a photo* of an ancient plant that has leaves that are radial and flat, so the fossil looks like flowers.  I used the same methods as above, but used my batik as the surface layer.  It gives the piece a lot of movement and drama, but obscures the actual cut-away motifs.  Some fossils are difficult to discern, so I feel this has a valid place in my triptych, but it is harder to see the work I’ve done.

The final piece was of ammonite-styled shells, based on a photo from the Smithsonian Handbook of Fossils.  I loved the depth and textures in the photo of the shells, and wanted to add extra layers of batting to my creation to enhance that depth field.  In doing so, I did what’s known in many industries as “something stupid.” (no self-denigration here, just reporting the facts.)  Firstly, I only used three layers of fabric.  I placed a layer of batting between the bottom and middle layer.  Then I added shell-shaped cutouts of batting beneath a few of the shells between the top layer and middle layer.  After free-motion sewing the shells, the depth variances were lovely, but when I cut away the top layer on these thicker shells, the batting showed through.  So, I lived and learned and changed my methods.  I did cut one of the shells successfully.  But the others I simply fabric painted the surface to bring out some dimensionality, and to match the shell that was cut.  I like how this turned out, it just didn’t make good use of the layered cloth technique.

  

I plan on adhering these to a mat board and framing them.  I’m not sure yet if it will be a single frame, or the three separate.  But I am excited to have honored my Mazon Creek fossils!

*The photo of the floral style fossil is from page 91, “The Mazon Creek Fossil Flora” by Jack Wittry.

 

 

This image is from americanfossilhunt.com.

I propose that the artistic temperament is so because there is an almost overwhelming ability to find inspiration in the world.  It is hard for an Artist to look at things strictly as they are,  because there is always a depth, connection or revelation to be found in things.   At least that’s how I see the core of my creativity, that there is always more to express.  It’s fun to build inspirations upon each other, or to explore the form of something through a different form or to see how deconstructed and truly original you can make something.

My latest endeavor fuses inspiration I find in Mazon Creek fossils, with a wonderful sewing technique book called “Layered Cloth: The Art of Fabric Manipulation” by Ann Small.  She demonstrates how to layer several pieces of fabric, strategically sew patterns, then cut the layers away to various depths, to create lovely and tactile fabric art. I just love how textured the final piece can become, and how different sorts of fabric create these sensory landscapes that you have to touch to fully enjoy.

Mazon Creek is an area in Illinois that has produced copious fossils from an era of about 300 million years ago.  That area was once mined, and so towering piles of these concretions (the compacted sediment that contains the fossils) were brought to the surface.  The area is now protected, but formally led tours sometimes go in to collect fossils, and the concretions are sold online.  I bought a bag of these concretions and have been submitting them to the freeze/thaw method of getting them to pop open, and reveal the fossil.  As you can see in my collection below, I have mostly ferns, some ancient conifer needles, a flat seed and some possible enigmatic soft-bodied critters.

When they pop, I love knowing that I am the first human being to see these remains (presumably).  I love how the minerals in the sediment coalesce to enhance the forms of the fossils.  It’s all very inspiring!  So I decided to experiment with this layered fabric technique, and use fossil forms as my motifs.  I have made three so far, featuring a fern, spiraled shells and a sort of flowering-leafed plant.  My forthcoming post will show how I  created my Mazon Creek Layered Fabric Fossil Fern Quilt.  It’s a long title, but it’s worth it.  I will post it in a few days, as I need to finish my shell-themed quilt to include it.