Collage Fish - Final

I brought this down to 20 inches square. It was originally 28x 40. That's a lot of waste.
But it brought importance back to the fish.

I wanted a very light finish, but it needed a definite edge.
This is raw edge with an overcast line of three strands of wool.

Spirit Animals

I puzzled over this piece a few days.
The Bear was great but it wasn't enough on that piece of fabric.
It didn't WANT to CUT the fabric so I had to fill it.
Some companion animals did the trick.
One Bear, 2 Ravens and 2 Fish.
Just needs a dark binding.

Sockeye Salmon - Day 4 - Final

You may wonder why I chose a rather grotesque creature to work on. This rose from working on the grizzly standing in the river with no salmon in sight. Sigh! And besides, the colours of these fish are spectacular.  But he's finished now.

It was quite a leap to CUT my fabric and use it in this piece. I did repaint some portions as I went along and also used ink sticks for more precise shots of colour.
The water is a favourite technique using shades of blue with white and " snowflake " thread. Some of the background water movement is in colour and some in simple invisible thread. The placement of currents and waves was dictated by the material. That's where it got fun. Well, the whole thing was fun. Enjoy!

Salmon - Day 3 Thread painted

Thread painting, in this case, is really only adding the veins in the fins, the scales and the gills.
Now I can work on the background.

 

I did add some thin black paint to the belly and the tail. I removed the black organza to let more of the green show through.

It really didn't take much thought to decide which fabric I wanted to use. I was going to overlay with organza to muddy the background as if underwater. But then I decide to have my fish moving up the rapids above water. That necessitated waves and splashes.

 

I went with a technique I had used before, tracing a picture of water onto tearaway stabilizer. As it's translucent, it enabled me to position it over a "natural" item in my material.

 

 

 This was fastened with tight stitches, the excess cut away, and then the stabilizer removed.

This "splash" still needs a lot of colour, primarily white.

Building the Salmon

I spent a few hours on the internet yesterday, looking at photos of salmon. Again there are many species so I suppose mine will end up being a hybrid of the Sockeye, the brightest. They also appear to look the most ferocious. This was a lovely water colour but then, there are hundreds of photos.

I gave my fabrics a trial with a few shades of organza. That was a no brainer as it would provide the shimmer I wanted on the fish. Red was best over my orange fabric. Black over the orange worked for the belly fins and the tail.

After making a drawing, a copy and a reverse copy on the fusible web, I cut out the body and then carefully added the organza a tacked it all around to the fusible coating.

For the upper fins I used a pale grey. The head is the only portion without organza but that will be gussied up with thread. And I may change the organza colour on the tail......too dark.

So this guy is about 18 inches. I'm rather please with my fabric efforts.
(PS I just went out and ordered a bolt of white fabric and 4 litres of the primaries. My husband is such an enabler. It was he who pointed me to the product.)