This piece, which was folded in quarters, was stuck through with brass-coated thumbtacks - the pointy bits and undersides rusted, but the brass plating acted as a resist -
First gather your fabric, then lay it out in some sort of pattern -
Add the shapes of iron implements - scythes, swords daggers - and some celtic crosses, to carry us forward in time to the christian age -
No need for everything to be dull and rusty - let's have some bright colours, some plushy fabrics just for fun too - the long sword is velvet, why not?
Quilting it was a nightmare. Spirals seemed appropriate, but all of my machines didn't like doing the quilting - lots of thread breakage, even though I tried several types of thread. Breakage was worse on the tightly-woven fabric, and - you guessed it - on the rusted fabric. And it happened when sewing backwards at an angle. Skipped stitches everywhere, can be fixed from the back -
My first plan was to add Ogham letters, words representing the celtic elements of place names (dun, combe, tor, kael, brinn... there are many), but it didn't look right, so I unpicked it all again.
Quilting it was a nightmare. Spirals seemed appropriate, but all of my machines didn't like doing the quilting - lots of thread breakage, even though I tried several types of thread. Breakage was worse on the tightly-woven fabric, and - you guessed it - on the rusted fabric. And it happened when sewing backwards at an angle. Skipped stitches everywhere, can be fixed from the back -
My first plan was to add Ogham letters, words representing the celtic elements of place names (dun, combe, tor, kael, brinn... there are many), but it didn't look right, so I unpicked it all again.And here's the almost-finished quilt --
It's 24" square and will go to the Contemporary Quilt display at the Quilters' Guild conference and AGM in Swansea next week. Does it have a title, hmm - before I took the Ogham lettering out, the working title was "By the forge and the word" ... how about "Celtic afterlife: scythe, sword and swirl".
It's 24" square and will go to the Contemporary Quilt display at the Quilters' Guild conference and AGM in Swansea next week. Does it have a title, hmm - before I took the Ogham lettering out, the working title was "By the forge and the word" ... how about "Celtic afterlife: scythe, sword and swirl".
Gorgeous, Margaret!
ReplyDeleteApparently it's the tannin in the tea which turns the rust black or grey, so I was told when it happened to me once...
How are you getting on with your Print Gocco?
Love the rusty stuff! I have tried this a couple of times and it is great fun to see what you get.
ReplyDeleteGreat quilt, Margaret, with the rust and the shapes of the implements. I love the thought process behind it!
ReplyDeleteHowever... minor quibble, but I can't help myself (grin)...are you sure that is "tor" is a Celtic word? I thought that it was a Viking word, with the high points in the landscape named after the god Thor(Tor in Danish). I learnt Danish when I lived in Denmark, you see, and have a son named Torben ("Child of Thor"), so have an interest in the words shared by Danish and English, and would be interested to know if I've assumed something that isn't right... because I also have strong Celtic ancestry!
Margaret: thanks for sharing the process! It is an interesting project.
ReplyDeleteHow about: 'Celtic Shadows' for the name?