AT THE DROP OFF (2)

If you are wondering why the coral and creatures that frame the bait ball are all blue/green, that is because when you enter the water with your trusty camera, you discover that your photos are all very green blue.   Know why?   Because red is the first colour to disappear -  something highly scientific to do with light and how it travels through water.     

So my idea was to try and create a piece from the perspective of a diver, with red filters on the camera and lights!   Lights underwater make the difference.     I am only a snorkeller, but you should see the rig I have built from pvc pipe, silicone glue and GoPro parts!   It wont be much longer before I courage up and have a go at diving.    Under the water is a most extraordinary place to be.

There was a lot of idea auditioning.   The mobile phone is worth its weight in gold for quilt making.   Some pieces I stitched directly to the background, but as the layers build, you need to come at the process from a whole different perspective.    You need fish to weave in and out of coral and weed and you want to be able to stitch through all the layers!   

I use a mixture of machine embroidery designs for the embroidery machine and a bit of free motion designs.    A lot of the machine embroidery designs are either from Embroidery Library and I also digitized quite a few myself. 

I set the machine up to embroidery designs in batches and then cut them out, run them through a candle (I like a bit of fire) and then they can be positioned as needed.    There are well over 200 sea shells in the final piece. 

I use a bit of fabric glue to hold the pieces in place until I can get them to the machine for appliqueing into position.  A few pins never go astray either.

Sue xxx