How To... FRUIT DES BOIS

"Fruits of the Woods" or berries in the wild. I wanted to convey the juiciness of any and all red berries, whether strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, red currents, or what have you. I did this piece first and loved it so much that I continued the process and created the grapefruit and oranges piece.

I started with a piece of solid red velvet, and using my trusty colour wheel picked threads to enrich and enhance. But first I added more layers of colour to the fabric with the Deka Iron On Transfer Paints, darkening some areas and lightening others.


Then the stitching. This piece is much larger that the citrus one, over twice its size. Again, over 20 hours of stitching were involved in its completion.


Detail of stitching and colour blending...


The final piece mounted on a richly painted canvas and again wrapped around to the back so that the sides emphasize the softness, roundness, plumpness and berriness.


Again, I love these velvet pieces!! They are crying out for touch...