Nellie"s Needles

Friday, January 21, 2011

Untangled

First, thank you to all who left comments on my last post.  I appreciate your suggestions and observations.  Between those and input from one of my Thursday Bee friends, Deb, my problems with the smaller clothing tag "unraveled" piece have been "untangled".

14"x 24"

I resolved the problem of the labels/tags not being  cohesive by over-painting the white ones, or their white parts, with a watered down blue acrylic paint.  This softened the high contrast ones so they now blend with the others which keeps them all on the same visual plane.  My eye now sees them as a  group, rather than individual spots.  None are shouting and vying for individual attention, but I do feel "invited in" to inspect the more interesting labels.

And then there are the buttons ...
Some of my buttons

My friend, Deb, had brought buttons and beads to Bee for the project she was working on.  I love buttons and have an extensive collection of my own.  Since buttons were on my mind, I was reminded of them when I looked at the painted dots on the black background while I was over-painting the labels.  So I got out all my colored plastic ones and pinned a number of them on the piece up on the design board.  That's the point where I am now.

What a difference these changes have made!  The buttons not only add a liveliness to the composition, but extend the association of the labels to clothing.  I may add "buttonholes" to the painted and printed dots to carry that idea even further.


YEAH!  Now I like it.  In fact, I like it a lot and am enthused to finish it.  I think its title may be "Untangled".

6 comments:

Unknown said...

YEA!! I love the way it looks now. Those buttons have really made a difference - I thought it was a fun piece before but wow, this has such an impact as well as making a statement about stitching/clothes etc. Bravo Nellie!!

Sue Spurlock said...

Lookin' good!

Colleen Kole said...

It is the buttons that have grounded the whole piece and make you want to peek and look a little closer. They truly stop you! Really lovely Nellie!

Heather said...

I love buttons and they add a lovely touch. Colourwashing the white labels was such a good idea. Another success Nellie!

KathyE said...

Yes, I like the addition of the buttons, too. Did you run any of the yarn through the button holes? I can't tell from the picture. It just gets better and better. congratulations!

McIrish Annie said...

adding the blue wash and buttons makes this one a winner!