America Now - Walking While Black

Ta dah!!!!

lol. I know, I know, you're probably saying "But Kit, it looks exactly like the old one!" And if you are, I'm delighted, because THAT WAS THE POINT of the last five weeks. Ai yi yi!

The interesting thing about this whole process was that the original one, in encaustic wax, took about ten minutes. The new one, which had to be hand drawn, blown up, copied, traced, painted, fused, cut, traced, etc. (ad nauseum) as I tried different fabrics, tried to distress said fabrics, tried different ways of applying them to the background, and struggled, STRUGGLED I SAY with getting the proportion of the face right - all in an effort to give the face A: the distressed look of the original and B: the proportionate look of the original has literally taken weeks and weeks of hours-every- day-work.

Here is the old one, in encaustic wax, to compare. Pretty good, huh?

I finished the background and background stitching on the supersized version at the beginning of May, including hand sewing on all of those letters in addition to fusing (again, I was afeared that the rolling and unrolling and shipping around the world would make them fall off), plus the hand stitched elements on this on a much larger scale, took forEVER.

Now, thanks to Jenny Wood and all of your helpful suggestions, it's finally done and looks as near as I can get to the original, using fused Pellon stabilizer (painted and then having some of the paint blotted up) as the base for that face.

(By the way, I DID try the original encaustic version too, but every time I rolled it up, more wax flaked off, so I couldn't take the risk. )

Here, you see the original in the left hand corner, with the scaled up version in behind it. As you can see, I STILL didn't get the proportion of the face quite right (it should be still larger), but given my time constraints (it has to be sent today) it was the very best I could do.

I thought about trying one more time to get the face the right size (on Tuesday, when this version of the face was completed) and decided I didn't have time - and boy - I was right!

Because, after the face was finished, I had to hand stitch it down, plus handstitch all the "blood", then I handstitched a few more circles to make up for the empty space, plus added another line of handstitching around the sharp angles on the left - and then I STILL had to close off the open side (I did an envelope back for this piece); so I finished the hanging sleeve and the bag for shipping last night, just before midnight.

That is cutting it TOO close!

And now, off it goes! *le phew* (I send it on its way with a kiss. *s*)

New work next week. Hurray! :)

12 comments:

quilthexle1.6.12
WoHo! Glad you got it done in time - just in time, hm? Thanks for the pic with both sizes in it - it shows you did a great job with enlarging your design ! I love the circles you added - they really catch my eye. Guess you'll celebrate "sending off" today - have fun, you worked so hard for it!
Flo @ Butterfly Quilting1.6.12
Wow! Great job. This is an amazing piece.
Now you can breath a sigh of relief...and start all over with something new LOL
Deborah OHare1.6.12
****cheering over here****
Karen S1.6.12
This looks great! And you can use all those new techniques you learned for the next one.
Becky1.6.12
AMAZING! You deserve a nice celebratory meal followed by a few days of relaxation!! Congrats !
elle1.6.12
You have every right to be proud of this one! Fantastic work!
Carol1.6.12
I think it looks awesome. You did a great job. I was on pins and needles waiting to see you come through. The overall piece I think is sharper than the first. Best wishes.
arlee1.6.12
Fantastic "translation"!!
Beth1.6.12
You are amazing Kit. It looked dead on. What a great job you did and I know it was a labour of love.
Queenie Believe1.6.12
Congrats! The quilt is awesome!!
Time to celebrate a work well done!
Have a wonderful weekend.
Always, Queenie
liniecat1.6.12
Id say youd succeeded and it looks great! I would imagine the furtheraway you are from the real piece the better the face dimensions work. Having said that its looks smashing in the small frame on the pc!
Ive decided your just masochistic and work best under extreme pressure lol
The Inside Stori2.6.12
Actually Kit, I think the face is just right.....given the scale of the entire piece, enlarging the area of circles was more effective. Congrats!