Saturday 28 November 2009

Turquoise Serpent - all the leather appliqué's finished

I've finished applying all the leather 'mosaic' pieces to the Turquoise Serpent. And here he is:


I'm quite pleased with how the leather appliqué has gone; I'm pleased with the variety of shapes, and I'm pleased with the overall feel of it. The photo doesn't give any sense of the depth of the padding, which actually raises the appliqué off the background quite a way - I should try and take one from the side, to show how raised it is - but what it really fails to convey is what the appliqué feels like.

It's a more tactile piece than I'd envisaged, which I really like. Normally, my work is to be looked at, not prodded, though some of the 3D pieces do rather ask for it, but it's hard not to with this one. The stitching round the edge of each suede piece has worked rather like quilting, so that it bulges up in the centre of each one. Combined with the soft pile, for want of a better word, of the suede, it's very nice to the touch.

I mentioned when I first started the appliqué that I was leaving small gaps between the pieces deliberately. Now all the pieces are on, I'll fill the gaps with couched silver thread. I think this could take a long time...

4 comments:

  1. Wonderful!
    Can't wait to see him with silver thread.
    Are you going to give him a name?

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  2. Strictly speaking, he's Xiuhcoatl, but I can't pronounce that very well, so he's just going to have to be the Turquoise Serpent. I quite like that, anyway - I've already got a Dragon and a Fire Lizard, so he fits in quite nicely.

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  3. Hi Ruth! A fellow Northerner, no less, although a bit more north than me.

    I've only just discovered your blog, despite your having shown an interest in mine for some time. Shame on me! Yours is far more worth looking at that mine, esp. these days when I don't do much fine work (too tired and stressed with settling into ex-pat and scholarship student life!). You will hereafter be thoroughly followed!!=)

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  4. Lovely serpent,very oriental.
    I think the silver thread will be perfect.

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