Mandy's Ocean Page

I have just gotten word from Mandy that she has received the Under Sea page that I created for her for the month of July. She is having some computer problems so I am going to post the pictures that I took of the page and give youa few how too's. If anyone has ny questions you can always give me a holler!!

To create the blue sea background, I simply fused scraps of various blue fabrics down onto a piece of muslin and then did some swirling FME in wave shapes all over the piece. FOr the sandy bottom I used a wonderful scrap of some gorgeous textured raw silk and then went to it with ribbons and beads and shells.

As for the shells, I used ones that I have collected form our New England beaches. The purple bits on the far left and again on the right up near the top of the sand are tumbled bits of a clam called a Quahog. I found these bits complete with holes already waiting for me, thanks to sea critters. This shell is very dense and to drill a hole one needs a very specailized diamond drill, so I am always thrilled to find the bits with holes at the ready. Ususally other collectors want the "PERFECT" pieces and discard the holey ones_ Fine with me!!!

For the seaweed I used various embroidery stitches as well as a used drier sheet that I painted with metallic olive green paint. I then fussy cut a branched form out of the sheet and then used a green thread to sitch down the center of each branch.

In this picture you can see a small yellow snail shell that is part of a collection that I gathered from a beach in Maine when I was 4 years old (that was in the early 1960's). There to the right of it is a small white clam and to the left a yellow jingle shell. I was able to drill holes into all of these so I could stitch them down safely.

I always love working on collage pieces such as this and find that my biggest problem is knowing when to stop!!!!

I am so glad that you like the page Mandy!!! Now I am off to work on my Leaves Page !!

Happy Fall to all!! Happy Spring to Johanna!!!