A Tropical Garden - the Beginning

The foundation for a new piece featuring a garden of tropical flowers was created yesterday. As usual, it's made up of recycled materials in the technique I call "ortwork". Scraps of silk sari fabric samples are arranged over an old woolen blanket with a piece of someones excess upholstery fabric as the backing.

Laying the silk pieces was like working a puzzle to cover the whole surface. Then I got out a container of thread and yarn ends/tangles to add a vertical element to it. Camouflage printed netting was layered over it all, then sparsely quilted to create a shadowy depth for the upcoming garden of flowers.

I couldn't resist playing a bit with various hues of tulle and a few flowers over that background piece on the design wall before packing up all the materials. Building layers to make a lush garden of tropical flowers on this piece will be done in Michigan.