At this time of the year, here in the Mid-Atlantic on the east coast of the USA, you can see so many stars in the night sky. Sometimes, I find that I want to create that shape in my beaded art quilts, and here are some of the ways that I do that.
In this detail shot of what is actually an underwater scene, across the middle of the photo, there are several clear, flat rings of textured plastic that have been held in place with long and short white stitches of embroidery floss. (Who says that stars just have to be in a sky scene?) Here, the clear discs reminded me of the gelatinous tentacles of a jellyfish, which when you look at them from above, have sort of a star shape. In the upper right of this shot, are some of the plastic snowflakes that I use a lot in my art work. When they’re fastened down with six strands of embroidery floss in contrasting colors, they make for a great subtle detail. Years ago, they were easy to find in crafts stores for kid’s creations, but lately are harder and harder to find in opaque colors, except on eBay, ordered from China. Fortunately, I have a large supply of lots of colors that should last me for awhile.
From this same small art quilt as the photo above, (about 10″ or 25 cm square) is one of my more unusual finds for a star shape. To the right of the red arrow that I added on to the photo is a clear, plastic rosette that is used to hold a mirror onto a wall, usually in a bathroom. The piece is about 2″ or 5 cm in diameter. A central screw goes through a hole in the center of the star. The star that fits at the edge of the corners of the mirror. The thick wide points of the star either overlap the mirror or parts of the wall and hold that side of the mirror in place. I fastened the plastic star onto the art quilt with six strands of embroidery floss, much as I would have one of the small snowflake beads that I wrote about above. Since the mirror star is clear, it probably would have shown up better if it had been placed against a darker background, but where it ended up was where I felt it needed to be in the composition at the time.
Finally, one can always use shi-sha mirrors to add bling to a beaded art quilt.(Great tutorial at the previous link). Originally, these bits of glass were made from beetle wings, to mica, to ground glass and originated in India but spread throughout Arabic Asia. The tiny rounds of mirrors can be fastened on in a multitude of ways, but back in the early 80s, I was fortunate enough to get a large stash of shi-sha covers that were embroidered rings with pearl edgings. With those covers, all that was needed was to tack them down over the mirrors with a few stitches, and the mirrors were secured. The bottom red arrow even shows where I filled the hole of a cover with a pearl instead of a mirror for a different effect.
There are a multitude of ways to add stars to your work, and I hope that these photos will inspire you to look at materials in new ways. Just think of a circle, either with points already on it or that can be added to it, and shiny surfaces, and you have the makings of a star for your own art work.
You can see more delightful art quilts at… http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/
What are some finds that you’ve transformed into other uses for your artistic medium? Please share your ideas, as we all grow when we learn from each other’s ideas rather than re-invent the wheel.
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