Sheeeeeps Innnnnnnn Spaaaaaaaace!

[UnRuli]

Sorry.....everytime I look at this piece it reminds me of the "Pigs in Space" skits they had on the Muppet Show.

This is a silk painting I completed in Florence,Italy during a batik class I was taking this summer.  My husband was generous enough to pay for me to spend 5 weeks in Florence studying art.  I married an incredible man!  I always wanted to learn batik and ran with the opportunity.  It was a FABULOUS class!!

The white outlines are the areas where the wax was applied to the silk to prevent the color from bleeding.  If you have any kind of opening or break in your wax the color will bleed through so this was used as our learning piece so we could learn to control our wax application for the "true" batiks we'd be doing later in the class.  The dyes in this particular process are added using brushes much in the manner of a watercolor. 

When I got home I decided to quilt this batik and added a few buttons I'd bought while in Italy from a tiny little shop.  The woman there said the box of buttons I was looking at was in the store when she bought the place 40 years earlier!  The batik is now mounted on a fabric backing and has been stretched on to canvas stretching frames so that it can be framed. 

I'm not sure what inspired me to come up with an image of a sheep in space, but I think it's loads of fun!


and a detail of my favorite areas:

[plumbucket]

This is gorgeous!

[Casstasstrophe]

I LOVE THIS!!! I remember learning this technique in grade school art class. Oddly enough, my contribution was very similar to yours with Saturn the moon and a comet. Of course, mine was no where near this awesome.

Thanks for sharing and bringing back the memories.

[buffalogirl]

Very cute.  The sheep and Saturn look exactly like their made of watercolors, great technique.  Nicely done.

[aisy]

i love this!!

[ScrappySue]

I love it!
How amazing to study art in Florence!
I am soooo green with envy 
S

[Madame Souza]

What a great sheep! I love it.

[UnRuli]

I LOVE THIS!!! I remember learning this technique in grade school art class. Oddly enough, my contribution was very similar to yours with Saturn the moon and a comet. Of course, mine was no where near this awesome.

I know that part of the reason I chose to do space was because I knew in the learning process I was going to have some spills and drips.  By doing a space scene not only could I make "stars" to test whether I had the wax too hot (it spreads very quickly if too hot) or too cold but if I had any drips or small spills it wouldn't look like a "mistake.  I want to continue doing this SO badly but right now I don't have the space or the supplies.  I WILL do it eventually however.

[Cathead]

This is amazingly well done for a first try! Silk painting is a b... mother in law.. to learn. 

I giggled when I read the title because Piggggs in Spaaaaaaace came right to mind. LOL

[maxxev]

beautiful! love it!
you just dont see enough of space pictures with sheep....or even Muppets for that matter!

[kwality570]

Wonderful!  What made you think of putting a sheep in space?

[UnRuli]

Wonderful!  What made you think of putting a sheep in space?

  To be honest......I don't rightly know!  I found an image of some sheep racing that I liked a long time ago but didn't want to use it directly.  I sketched out some things and decided to take advantage of the potential for wax drips by putting it all in space.  Stuff just happens sometimes you know.   I sure wish it would happen more often!

[SciFunk]

That is awesome!

[zaluly]

Very awesome..love that the sheep is helmeted and tethered

[LimeRiot]

Brilliant! This is a beautiful piece and such a wonderful reminder of what sounds like an amazing trip. The theme is pure genius and the colors, quilting and buttons are all incredible.

Do you have pictures of other things you made in your class??

[cinnasweet]

WOW

this is just awesome!

I am curious what kind of paint did you use?

[UnRuli]

LimeRiot:  I have three other pieces that I'll post as soon as I finish the final details on them (quilting and such).  Two of them are fabric paintings and two are true batiks.

cinnasweet:  It's not a paint but a type of fabric dye that is used like a watercolor in this particular process.  I wish I could give the name of the dye but it was in German so I can't remember it.  Eventually I'll need to hunt down some of these dyes (or something similar) so I can do some more of these!

[winddragyn]

Amazing! Hard to believe that this is your first batiking. Did you use the method where you dip it in progresively darker dyebaths? Or (it looks like) did you use the method where you apply paint to certain areas and it soaks in. I'm guessing the second since I don't see any tale-tell cracks...

[UnRuli]

This one isn't a dip-dye process, though I do have two of those and I'll post them when I'm done doing "stuff" to them and I'm convinced they're finally done.

This one was done with a paintbrush.  The white outlines (where the wax was placed) kept the colors from bleeding in to other areas so I was able to fill each area with color.  The sky color did leak around the edge of the silk and creep in to the moon (the greenish areas of the moon) but I was able to make it work so that it looks intentional.  It's amazing how much color spreads on silk like this! Just a dab of color would fill a large area. 

[cervy]

Wow this is super beautiful. It also reminds me of the dolphins in space dress OBudah made

[deviouscrafty]

Wow that's awesome!
Is the fabric dye permanently fixed?

[UnRuli]

Is the fabric dye permanently fixed?

Yes, this particular dye is a heat-set dye.  It was heat-set and then dry cleaned (it is on silk after all) in order to remove the remaining traces of wax before I quilted it.

[FromLauraWithLove...]

It' a sheep...in space! Amazing! This is just to cool (and I love the muppets too!).

[SailorSam]

this blows my mind! totally awesome. i would love to try this some day! you make it look so easy but i can totally see your amazing talent. keep it up i want to see more!

[CrazyEyeGlass]

Incredible! Such depth and expression!

[bearclaw]

amazing, i really want to try silk painting. great imagery!

[aoph]

So very talented! Did you do anymore we'd love to see them. Thanks so much for sharing!

[liz156]

I love this!!!!

[jungrrl]

Congrats!!

You're a Craftster Best of 2010 Winner!



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[fashionjewelryforeveryone]

Love to paint myself but time does not permit these days. Great to see your work.

Thanks.