Monday, July 26, 2010

Sloth Art Quilt

Somewhere in the depths of the jungle, the branches climb ever higher.
Reaching towards the sky they compete for the warmth of the sun.
A breeze blows, brushing the leaves side to side.
A heavy, humid, sweet smelling air rustles through the fur of a particularly sleepy fellow...



"Ahhhh, I could lay like this all day!"

(See it big)


Great idea! Let me paint you while you're at it! With thread that is...

This is a close up of his little leg. I used a satin stitch around his outline, and I used a technique called 'thread painting' to do all the shading in there. Basically, I just set the darning foot on it and go all over the place with thread as if I were sketching.

"Pleased to meet you! *shakes paw*"



I did this for the tree as well. I wanted to show a little depth by using a darker and a lighter colour on each side.



His face in close up actually [i]feels[/i] pretty neat to touch. This is all free hand as well. Sometimes I loaded the machine with two threads at once to give him an extra fuzzy layered look. I think it creates the depth that I wanted.

"See, it really does just take eating and sleeping to make a happy life."



All of the leaves are 100% unique - no two are the exact same! Like snowflakes, but in the jungle! ;) They are all quilted to make them extra thick, then I attached them one at a time to give a full layered look.


(Click thumbnails too see larger images)


I wanted to give the sloth and the tree branches a poofy hug-able look, so I used invisible thread to go around them. It's kind of, well, invisible on the front, but you can see the effect from the back.

"HEY! Are you showing them my bum?! You better not be showing them my bum!"




This was definitely a fun project. It was for the Friends of Craftster Wist Swap. My partner Sloth003 named him Monsieur Sloth upon receiving him. It was inspired based on the fact that she obviously loves sloths, and that she had seen a project on here that was art quilt of trees that she really loved. I wanted to create something special, a mascot for her if you will, that she can enjoy as decoration all the time.

I'm starting to notice a theme in art quilts that I've made. The last one was a manatee, this one is a sloth, I wonder if I'm starting to have a certain affection for animals that just don't get enough attention. I kinda like that it's becoming a "thing" that I do. haha!

Anywho, here's Monsieur Sloth again, signing off. Because, well, he's kinda tired from showing off his schmexy lil' bum to all of you!

"Ahhhh, I could lay like this all day!"

(See it big)

1 comment:

  1. Hey, I love the sloth, is it possible to buy one? My email is here: szandua@gmail.com thanks:)

    ReplyDelete