Collaboration

March 10, 2010

Way back last summer Jana Ewy (Fracture and Fusion etc) contacted me and asked if I would like to join in on a collaborative project she was hatching.  Her idea was to create a decorative piece of work that was created on 3 different continents.  To that end she asked Mylene Hillman in Australia, and I to make up some 2″ squares using Friendly Plastic and she would assemble them in USA.  So the three of us set about creating four individual squares using our own techniques, which we then had to repeat 4 times.  This would mean that the three of us would each end up with a finished collaborative piece and there would be one to submit to a magazine.

The theme we worked to was “royalty” and we agreed that reds and purples, gold and black would feature heavily, but it was up to us individually what we did.  We duly made our pieces and sent them off to Jana who was a super star and spent ages arranging them into a pleasing composition.  She tried out all sorts of backgrounds, and eventually, after much experimentation settled on an artists canvas that she painted and layered with paper.  you can see the result below.

As you can see, not all the pieces ended up as squares.  Jana decided that it required something other than squares, so she created 3 pieces that are anything but square. The shield below is marbled / feathered, and Jana has used some pieces of FP that she has coloured with alcohol inks.  It is mounted on brass filigree.

 

Jana used alcohol inks again with applied strips of left overs and fabric plus more charms and filigree to this piece.

For this most regal crown on top of wings she has used moulds.

A piece which included Jana’s work would not be complete without her Fracture and Fusion technique. This is the only truly flat piece out of the whole lot.

Mylene is immensely neat and tidy and precise in her work and this really shows in her chequer board pieces below. This first one is made up of three layers, the base being the aforesaid impossibly neat chequer board, with two more layers that appear to have been stamped. Mylene has added one of her beautifully crafted beads to dangle below.

I am totally envious of Mylene’s ability to be soooo neat and tidy, and this little square illustrates my justification in being envious! She has created a perfect chequer board in black and white on top of which is a neatly moulded crown with added sparkly gems. I was relieved to see that it was not Mylene’s hand writing on the metal shim, but a printed word instead; if it had been her own handwriting I think I would never talk to her again – I would be too jealous for words!

 

A really 3D Fleur De Lis adorns this very regal square which is made up of stamped sections with added filigree and charms.

Mylene’s final square is delightful, the background is made up of three sections – chequer board, feathering/ marbling, and a stamped image all in black white and gold. The dragon is moulded in purple and the gems and crown have been added to “crown it all off”.

 

Both Jana and Mylene are neat and tidy workers, I most certainly am not. I even found it tricky making my squares exactly 2”! The first of my squares is made of strips of Ooozed Friendly Plastic interspersed with narrow plain FP. I used sequin waste with large and small holes and stars, plus some old lace I found at a car boot sale. My handwriting is clear to see in this square and it leaves a lot to be desired, but hey, take your specs off, squint or stand back a few paces and view it as a whole, and then I won’t feel quite so inferior. When it comes to neatness Mylene and Jana sit on pristine pillars of perfection and I feel like I am in the dust and the rubble at the bottom making sandcastles (or dustcastles) out of the debris.

 

This little square is a layer of my Lacework embedded into some gold FP with added sequins. The little beads you can see are on cords which come out of the holes in the sequins.

 

I am sure you will all recognise the heart that I have Ooozed through Angelina fibres, this is one of my favourite things to do with FP. The heart is embedded into a background of pieced red, purple and gold FP.

 

None of my squares are flat, but my final square is the least flat of them all. I was thinking the crown jewels here, in particular the orb and sceptre. This square has a pieced background (not neat and tidy – random piecing), with an applied circle of purple velvet. On top of the velvet sits a moulded dome of recycled FP that I coloured gold. Tubular knitting wire encases some stiffer wire that holds the orb in place, and is adorned with a small “flower” made of gold and red FP on the top. It stands 3cm tall.

 

To Jana and Mylene, I say a huge thank you for sharing your talents with me. Although I envy your neatness, I do appreciate the difference in our styles, and it only goes to highlight just how very versatile Friendly Plastic is. If I have got any of the details wrong about your squares, please do correct me.

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