Monday, July 26, 2010

Charming

I've mentioned here before that I've been playing with small quilts that incorporate old photographs.  In part, that is due to family matters presenting me with scads of old photos... and in part, it's because just when the pictures presented themselves to me I was charged with the task of identifying a series I wanted to explore this year in my Practical Design Workshop.  In January, when it came time to designate what my series would be, I didn't want to take on any big series idea.  And the idea of making a small quilt each month as a) my series work and b) an ongoing exploration of how to transfer photos to fabric and use them in a whimsical, non-sentimental way in quilts fit my mood.

My July project involved a photo I fell in love with. 


As I was sorting through a box of photos from my recently deceased mother-in-law, I came across this near the top.  It's my husband's brother Ron when he was about 10 years old.  Their next door neighbor was a professional photographer who did photos for catalogs and magazines, and apparently he enlisted Roger's family members as models from time to time.  This one?  Who knows what the point was -- selling the air-filled plastic snake?

In any event, it needed to be a quilt.  So, here's my piece for this month, titled "Charmer":


It's about 14" x 16".  I had a great time making it.  I printed the photo onto fabric with my inkjet printer, and added color with colored pencils.  I was happy to find the green snakeskin-like fabric in my stash.  I used Markal painstiks to stencil the word "Charmer" onto the background fabric, and then I added square spirals from a stamped I carved.

Here's a detail shot:


I inset a flange of the green fabric -- it needed the inner border to my eye and I liked the raised texture of the flap.  The dense stipple quilting gives a snaky texture to the background, too.

All in all, a fun project.  It's heading off to Ron for his birthday -- I wouldn't be surprised if he has totally forgotten he ever posed for this picture.

10 comments :

  1. I love this. I have been wanting to do some more photos quilts. I hope to snag some old photos when I am home next month.

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  2. That is so much fun in every way! I bet Ron will love it.

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  3. Oh very fun. I hope you let us know how Ron reacts when he sees it.

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  4. hahaha! Maybe it's an ad for water safety. "Be careful when swimming with snakes!" :) I LOVE it!!

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  5. I love this! Great fabric/color choices. Such a great idea.

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  6. What a FUNNY photo! Love what you did with it.

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  7. Great idea! You may just have started something, at least with me. Now I've got to think about what I would like to do. Thanks.

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  8. Great quilt. The green fabric is perfect for the snake charmer - quite mesmerizing!

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  9. So you've inherited the box of photos...I love what you've done with them. I've been making books with mine but small quilts are a great idea.

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