So, I had been holding off on the tattoo description on this list for the year since I wasn't really sure what to do. I knew the tentacles of a standard squid would be too small to really do anything so I decided on the Limited Edition style squid. I couldn't draw directly onto the felt with the accuracy I needed so I dug through my supplies cabinet. I have a shelf that has odds and ends that I like to keep "just in case". This has proved fruitful. In college I needed some plastic for a Fibers project. I bought half a yard of that plastic that people use to cover picnic tables. I never thought I would need it again but I hung onto it. Once I started making squid I snip some off occasionally to make the safety goggles for science squid and also a welder's mask for another custom piece. So hey, sometimes it pays to be a pack rat.
Anyhoo, I dug through my embroidery supplies until I found some stabilizer. I can't even remember what I bought this for but at some point I purchases some of the insanely thick stabilizer but have never opened the packaged. I figured this would be perfect. I was kind of winging this so in case anyone else out there isn't sure how to use this stuff here's a little how-to.
I started off drawing my designs on a template of the squid since they needed to be exact. There really wasn't any room for error on the arm tattoos.
After that I took some strips of stabilizer and placed them on top of the drawing to trace the designs.
And then I got to work.
Once I was done I cut away any extra stabilizer that I could get to and grabbed some water and a paint brush to dissolve the rest. Normally you're supposed to soak but I found it better to dab and brush on the water since I was working with felt. I accidentally used one of my non-squid markers with this so my outline also washed away and I had to redraw it. Also it stained some of my white embroidery floss so I had to cut that out and sew it again. That was a pain.
After all of this I just waited for everything to dry.
The squid is a tad stiffer than it would normally be with the stabilizer but I kind of liked that side effect. It made the tattoos stand out more.
This guy didn't seem quite finished after I sewed him up so I added a little something extra.
As soon as I finished with this guy I wanted to do more. As of last month I have. The latest one was inspired by my reading of Fruits of Victory and a sideshow carnival theme of this lovely show.
(update: here are the finished squid from the carnival show)
This is so wonderful!
ReplyDeleteadorable!
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