The Endeavourers’ Reveal Day Three: Spirals
I am part of an online art quilt group, The Endeavourers, that works on quarterly challenges. Our current topic “Spirals” generated a lot of ideas in my mind, but sewing machine troubles turned me to a hand-stitched project.
I started with the idea of trying out zipper trim á la Jamie Fingal, and then decided to create spiraling galaxies out of other sewing notions. Hand-dyed fabric made a background that evoked of the depths of space. Then at the local Big Box store, I saw a string of LED lights, and decided to add those too. I wrote a little more about the process here.
A Sewist’s Universe
Detail of the “Hook and Eye Galaxy.”
Then I had fun photographing the piece at night. I put the shutter speed on one second and waved the camera round to make light patterns. Then I layered some of the shots in Photoshop®.
Basic shot, capturing the lights at night.
Light spirals made by 1-second shutter speed and motion.
Combined shots.
My favorite combination.
I can see printing these computer images on fabric for further pieces.
I would encourage you to go look at the other pieces from this challenge. The scope of interpretations of the subject is huge. And the artists’ accounts of their processes are inspiring as well!
The participants in The Endeavourers are:
Catherine – http://www.knottedcotton.com @knottedcotton
Janine – https://rainbowhare.com/
Nancy – http://www.patchworkbreeze.blogspot.com/
Carol – http://beadsandbirds.blogspot.com/
Barbara – https://theflashingscissors.blogspot.co.uk/
Ruth – http://benandcharlyscorner.blogspot.co.uk/
Gwen – https://textileranger.com/
Martha – www.weekenddoings.com
Julie – www.pinkdoxies.com
Maureen – https://josephinaballerina.com/
Tonia – http://allthingzsewn.blogspot.com
Kay – http://thecraftyyak.wordpress.com
Soma – http://www.whimsandfancies.com/
Fiona – http://celticthistlestitches.blogspot.co.uk/
That is very creative! I love the lights!
Thank you! I have seen a few articles about lights in clothing and I wanted to try them out.
I congratulate you on thinking completely outside the sewing box – well, mine at any rate! Inspirational – thank you!
I think you just gave me an alternative title — “The Big Bang Hits the Sewing Box!” 🙂
Oh my gosh…I absolutely LOVE this!
Thanks! When the topic Spirals was announced, I was thinking of when you highlighted the work of Yulia Brodskaya, and her talent is just overwhelming. So I was glad to come up with any idea at all! 🙂
These photos with the lights are great. They really add another dimension 🙂
Thanks! I see ideas like this in Photoshop books and classes, and I had fun applying the idea to this piece.
This is SO good. I really enjoyed reading this and chuckled most of the way through. Showing now to Jim…
I should have dedicated it to you and Jim! A melding of your interests. 🙂
I enjoyed reading the other post on this, too.
I love this one – the lights are the icing on the galaxy. Do they blink on and off? Looks like you had lots of metal zippers. They are much cooler than the other kind.
The light control says, “On, Off, Timer,” but as there is no way to set a timer, I am not sure what that means! I set the control there and they just stayed on. Since they were only $4, I am thinking they may be a knock-off of a set that has a working timer and a way to set it. 🙂
Zippers — yes, they are the ones with metal teeth. I don’t know how long my brother had them, but I have had them about 5 years, and each and every one of them had a corroded area about 4 teeth down from the top. I could only get about 4 of them open. They were fun to use though, especially as binding, since they had a finished edge.
“Icing on the galaxy.” hehehe
I love the Hook and Eye Galaxy, and the Snap Galaxy (I think that’s what you called them). Such inventiveness, with the mini light strand the icing on the cake (couldn’t think of an appropriate space metaphor). It’s all so wonderful, and I love it!
Oh, thank you! That means a lot, coming from you!
And don’t you know that if astronomers asked stitchers for new names for space features, we could come up with some memorable ones?! 🙂
You know how to have so much fun! This is really cool, just in itself, but the photos make it super cool. I looked at some of the others and thought they were very fun but yours is the most creative of all the ones I looked at!
Thank you! I get so many good ideas from reading the other quilters’ thought processes though, and how many layers of meaning they pack into a piece, and/or how they can get a theme down to its essence. Especially with this topic, I just didn’t think anything new could be said, and then everyone came up with such a wide range of interpretations!
It was fun to see the variety of interpretations, and I like your “21st Century Starry Night”. Oops, my title, not yours 😄
That’s a great title! Next time I am stumped for a title, I will check with you! 🙂
Amazing!
Gosh, Gwen! Such great ideas! Zips, hook and eyes, lights, it’s such a fun piece! I loved all the pictures of the lights. Wow, just cool!
Well done!
Barbara x
Thanks! I did have so much fun making it, and I think I will have more fun using it as a base for Photoshop play. 🙂
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