Art n Tartan - Wearable Art

The week leading up to judging was spent making my costume for the Art n Tartan Wearable Arts. From dawn until dusk I was making paper, drying paper, shaping and gluing, fitting, sewing and stressing from time to time!

I brought more supplies. 

A big sponge and felting cloths which I found that 

the Countdown just down the road from me stocked.

Thankfully, the weather was good at the beginning

 of the week so I was able to make paper.

I hung the long sheets up on the line

...and lay the smaller ones on the trampoline.

This is what my cat did all day while I worked!

While at work and browsing a magazine I came across this image of tree roots. I was immediately inspired by what I was going too do and couldn't wait to get home to start work on my "tree roots"

Preparing the "roots" using foam tubing

I found at Arthur's Emporium For $1 

Hanging them to dry on my porch

Bringing them inside overnight

to continue the drying process.

Sewing tartan fabric onto the paper was really tricky!

I realised after drying all the "roots" they needed to

 be bent so spray-misted them all and placed them in

 a laundry basket to keep them in a curved shape.

Experimenting with taping wire to the paper 

then gluing more paper over the top.

It worked really well!

My dried "roots"...now I had to work out how to attach them.

One of my BIG stresses during the week was having difficulty couching (pronounced: cooching) or transferring the second batch of paper pulp to the felts. I nearly gave up as I was SO frustrated!
But I didn't..I pushed through  After taking a rest day (I think mid-week) I came to the conclusion it was to do with the flax/abaca ratio. The first batch had a good ratio of flax to abaca probably half and half. The second was mostly abaca and it was VERY difficult to couch.

After re-wetting it and adding equal quantity of pre-made sheets of flax paper (I had made for labeling my soap) and re-batching the pulp it worked perfectly, releasing easily from the mold so I could continue working on my design. I had the dehumidifier on constantly for 24 hours to dry it as it started raining and I was running out of time to use it!

After sewing the fabric leaves onto the florist wire and stitching around the borders using a buttonhole stitch. I folded the wire back on itself and twisted it so the florist tape had something to "grip" then covered the tape with paper.

PVA glue attached the paper to the stems

Rolling paper around the stem.

The leaves were then attached to the "branches"

My finished branches.

Tibby and music kept me company while I worked - all day Saturday

I worked on the roots ALL night and watched
 the sunrise on the Sunday (judging day),.
~o0o~

Hours: 60