Birch Thing Day4

This morning was a little tedious as it was mostly taken up with wrapping several miles of thread.

The exciting variant here was adding a strand of wire to give 'bendability' when the leaves are suspended.



The other time consuming operation was getting the hanging device to work. Clive is good at this but there was a lot of trial and error involved - his preferred option of mirror fittings were unsuitable on a bumpy surface.

Eyelets took a long time to fix and then we made the top piece of wood all wonky. I hope you are absorbing all these technical terms. Eventually a metal eyelet at the top was agreed so I had to disguise it with yet more wrapped thread. The next task was to paint a few more coloured leaves in case it needed more contrast.

Finally I gathered all my bits and fixed the wrapped wire to the front. An experiment in the form of a strip of organza with a pattern stitch and a fringed edging was added to the mix. You can see it in the front in the pic below. Some little flowers were made from punched shapes in case a frond or two was needed.

Here is the beginning - bending the wire around the slats of wood, the organza is ready to be folded over the cord with the fringe hanging down.

Then the leaves were pinned into place - a mix of metal and gessoed Vilene, with the odd splash of colour. Note the less than elegant hanging device at the top.

A close-up - the leaves look brighter than they really are. I think it needs a few slightly bigger leaves to change the scale a little.

Finally - the story so far. Tomorrow will be a day of leaf making and probably more wrapping. I am still not convinced about the brighter colours but I think the metal and gesso ones look good.


Focal points will need some thought tomorrow, too - it's getting a bit busy.


I am afraid that Smudge has been very boring today It has been lovely and sunny (praise the Lord) so he lay on his back in the conservatory all day. He says he will try to be more Smudge-like tomorrow That's worrying.