Gallery Pages

Damsel Fly

$125.00

Insects are one of my big fears, but Dragonflies and Damselflies have always fascinated me. I think it's their jewel like colors. The wings are sheer fabric stretched over a wire frame and embroidered. The lame' that makes up the body is hand sewn over a wire armature. This is one of a very few pieces that I have done where the armature is not padded with quilt batting. I wanted to keep an angular look to this sculpture. Developing an interesting way of constructing wings was a major undertaking. Basic ones for insects are simple wire shapes covered with different types of sheer fabric that can be embellished with embroidery and or beads. The larger pieces have wings that take on a stained glass effect that is done in 2 steps. An armature is constructed with all the shapes wired together and then covered with fabric. The voids created are then filled with fabric sewn in place by hand.

I love going to the ocean. The sun and sand and even the smell of the salt water. The idea of mermaids has always fascinated me. I like to make a kind of standard mermaid(part woman part fish), but after reading about Sea Dragons I came up with a new design. They are still feminine, but have aspects of the sea horses that inspired me. The face is made up of sections of padded wire that are covered with fabric and then heavily beaded. The hair on these pieces is made by first stitching wire to the head, and wrapping the wire with yarn and sometimes batting. finally, this arrangement is covered with fabric and beads.

This piece "Captured" was my first piece that has 2 figures interacting. The mermaid was so uninteresting by herself that I added the starfish as a base to hold her captive. The starfish monster's eye is cast resin and was made by my huband. Both pieces are built up over padded wire armatures.

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Le Chat Noir Studios * Lancaster * California