Okinawa Sand

Inspired by this photo that a friend sent to me about the star sands of Okinawa (see previous post), I decided to use this idea- which is in keeping with the commitment to macro imagery in this cycle- for a monochromatic piece using shades of brown.

Of course I began with drawing, trying to get a variety of the plump little shapes.
They are colored solid black with my sharpie so that I can make them into a vector pattern for my electric cutter.

 Here's a batch fresh out of the cutter with some peeled off shapes at the top of the mat- I'm using non woven material here to avoid fraying edges....also because I can burn holes in them with my hot knife- they are all done individually because I wanted them all to be different, like the individual little organisms they once were.

 Then they're dampened a bit, and painted - the pigment is naturally drawn to the outside edges since they dry first....

 creating a nice, three dimensional color variation.

 Of course I had to use some of my beloved dorozome mud silk from Okinawa as the base layer-

 paintsticked a bit of wave foam on it first, then quilted the whole thing-

 then up on the design wall, with the individual star shapes positioned, as naturally as I can make it, overlapping each other randomly,

 They're all sewn on with monofilament and an appliqué stitch- there's no quilting on them at all.

 Et voila- Okinawa Sand, 40x18"