Kit's Crafting Den

In Nature Spectrum Diamond Painting

Specs:
Artwork: In Nature Spectrum by Cold Pixie
Style: Diamond Painting
Size: Artwork size: 40cm x 50 cm
Framework: blue vine work and burgundy with metallic gold fabric using a modified quilting technique
Embroidery: Nest-Bird in Flight by Urban Threads done in metallic gold and metallic opalescent thread.

Diamond painting is a relatively new craft. You can't find it in the states yet, most of the kits come from China. Basically it's like cross stitch but uses small, square or round faceted, colored resin diamonds in place of thread. It goes much faster, the artwork is larger, and it glitters as you walk by it. Basically the design uses squares of color just as pixels do in digital images.

I fell in love with In Nature Spectrum years ago and used it as my avatar here for a good while. I was even knighted under it I love the style, the fox is my power animal so that's the draw there, and I have a fascination with feathers. The art tells me of a fox, confident in his own power, and full of wisdom. So when I was browsing for a new craft, and ran across this in the diamond paintings, I jumped on it! Really enjoyed it.

Many people put finished diamond paintings in frames but I wanted the ability to roll it up to move it without worrying about it breaking. So I went looking for ideas and ran across someone who mentioned they made it into a wall scroll. But I still wanted a kind of finish to it, then got the idea of using fabric to simulate a kind of matting and frame. I made so many mistakes on this it was insane. I can't tell you how many times I cut something wrong or sewed the fabric facing the wrong way @.@ such a rookie mistake!! Took me two days to do and it's not how I imagined it but I'll take it. I'm done!

I decided to do the embroidery because I figured since I was using fabric, I wanted a little extra detail to give it that special touch. I spent a good four hours hunting out the right embroidery file. I originally wanted to put some feathers in the bottom right corner. I thought that would be a nice delicate and simple touch and help balance out the feathers in the image, giving it a more centered look. Couldn't find the image that felt right even after making mockups so I expanded my search to include foxes, then birds. When I saw this one, it all clicked. So I gave it a try and the mock up just felt right. This is the second embroidery. The first one I used copper and gold. It didn't stand out much at all, which is why I intended to use a solid pattern at first. I knew a delicate outline embroidery would get lost in the busyness of the background fabric. But then I accidentally cut the fabric the embroidery was on too short....so I had to redo it. Since I wasn't happy with the first colors, I changed it to gold and pearlescent. It stands out much better but still without being too loud or heavy. Keeping the focus on the fox.

To hang it, I used a quilting technique where you sew triangle pieces of fabric into the corners when you do the binding (in this case, when I hemmed it). I cut a yard stick to length, and it keeps the pressure outward making the fabric taut, and also is flat (vs a round dowel rod) so I can hang it up with a couple of nails. I'm really pleased with the effect. I'll do this differently next time, I have a few ideas how. But for now I'm happy!

So I've got a massive project in the works that I'm really excited about. I've been learning the 3D printer with PLA fillament. I originally got it thinking all fillament was the same and since PLA needed a lower temp and was more enviornmentaly friendly, why would I want to use something else? But I accidentally ordered ABS in white for my skull so I went with it. And the difference in quality is amazing! I'm really impressed. I ran out of the white when I was doing my test runs. Got a "natural" colored ABS and printed at a high quality for my (hopefully) final run.

Anyways, so what I'm working on is a headdress for my shamanic practices. I found a 3D design for a mask that was made using a 3D scan of a red fox skull. I'm printing that out in a natural ABS fillament which should be attached together with ABS glue. I haven't decided if I want to paint it yet or not. But I will also print out fox ears. I will fur the ears and put them on a mantle of faux fur. Then I'll decorate it with a few strings of beads and leather hanging down from the headdress to the front of my shoulders. Possibly arange a feather mantle around the ears. I haven't decided if I want to put up with the maintanance of that yet.

The faux fur will be difficult to empower. But I don't think I want to use fox fur. I'd need two or three pelts to get the length I want and I want to give the impression that *I'm* the fox, not that I'm wearing one. But either way, faux fur and real, they're expensive so this'll be a project long in the making.

Currently I have two parts of the skull printed. The nose and eyes. I have one or two more pieces of the skull to print (depending on how I can fit them on the printer bed) then a bit of sanding, shaping, and gluing. Then I'll need to print the ears and that's all for the printed parts. These two printed pieces took 18hrs and 10 hrs to print. I'm hoping the other two pieces won't be so long. The ears will probably be a longish print too. And I have some research ahead of me on how to use fur. Excited but scary prospect