Queen Bee, Mixed Media Textile Art Inspiration

   In rummaging through my stash looking for something to spark my interest, I discovered a piece of hand dyed linen with the Bees and the Basketweave design I had stenciled on it. I don't even remember what this piece was originally intended to be, but I think it must have been a journal cover. It was painted with the Neopaque Fabric Paint made by Jacquard.

   My next step was to add a bit more interest. I printed out an image of a bee drawing from my sketchbook onto Jacquard's ExtravOrganza, silk organza, on my inkjet printer. Then I added some scraps of handmade paper from Nepal. I fused the paper in place with white Misty Fuse. The paper adhered really well to the fabric, and it did not come loose at all when I was doing the hand stitching.

The finishing touch of course, was the hand stitching. I think the only embroidery stitches I used were:

• Blanket Stitch
• Running Stitch
• Back Stitch

   It felt great to use up pieces that have been sitting around buried in boxes for ages. And, I got to try some new things out as well. I had only used paper on a smaller piece once, and I think I am going to be using a lot more of it in the future.

   Last summer I bought some beautiful Japanese lacquered papers from John Marshall. He said the paper they used was the same exact paper their currency is printed on. I think I am going to have to work my way up to actually making something with that paper. It would probably be cheaper, thought maybe not as attractive, to sew dollar bills onto my textile art.