My piece for this month's challenge is called 'Ticking Clock' and features a dandelion seed head. As a child we used to 'tell the time' by blowing the seeds off the plant. Depending on how many blows it took, that was the hour...only it was never correct!!
I used two weights of Lutradur, 8" x 11", one heavy (130) and one medium (70).
On the heavy one which would be underneath, I used a white Inktense block to cover the sheet in white, then when it was dry painted an iridescent sparkly paint over it.
On the medium sheet I used two or three different shades of green Inktense blocks and blended them.
With a fine pencil I drew the outline of the dandelion clock onto the green Lutradur and used a soldering iron to slash & burn on the design.
When laid on top of the heavy Lutradur the white showed through.
I finished it by stitching the seeds using Madeira Rayon thread in bright white and embellishing the background with a Madeira metallic thread.
This is the first time I've used Inktense blocks and found the colour amazing. I don't have the facilities for dying here so this is the next best thing for me!
9 comments:
Wow! It looks wonderful. I thought about dandelion clocks too, but then went off in another direction. I love the way you've done this and wish I could see it in reality, it looks and sounds beautiful.
Nice job! I still don't understand how lutrador works, guess I should get some go from there. I was going to guess thyme the herb when you showed us the green part and having to do with ticking clock. do you call a part of a dandelion clock? I'm confused .
Thanks Sue :o)
Carol, it was something we did as children, blowing the seed heads off the dandelion to tell the time...a bit silly really as it was never right! I wonder if it's just something we in the UK do??
I wonder where the idea came from to call dandelion seedheads clocks? I used to do that too. I love your interpetation of the dandelion 'clock'. I have lutradur in my stash too and always mean to use it but never get round to it. It would be great to see this in real life.
Hi Angela, love your use of lutrador. I haven't really used lutrador much, must give it another try after seeing your piece.
Using the soldering iron to cut the dandelion petals out was a great idea.
Ah well there goes a tale Claire. I decided to get myself a 'proper' craft soldering iron and found one on ebay, put a bid on it and won it for £2 something. It was brand new and was priced up at £24.99. I thought I'd got a bargain - I hadn't...it cooled down part way through its first use on this piece and couldn't be resurrected! I went back to my old trusted bog standard soldering iron to finish it. I'm just glad I didn't pay the full price!
I do a lot with Lutradur and Zeelon and love how it can be manipulated...
Thanks Julie It was difficult to photograph and didn't scan well either - I'm finding that a lot lately - must be me...
Over here I have never heard of dandelions as seedhead clocks - so thanks for teaching me something new ;-)) Lutradur is something I find myself looking at ... but never found the courage to use it. Thanks for a wonderful inspiration!
Lovely! I too had thought of using dandelions as the theme - as children we had the same tradition here in Australia. But seeing how wonderful yours is, and how beautifully you have executed the concept, I think I am glad that I took a different tack!
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