May Reveal on Interpret This!

Here is my May Reveal for Interpret This!  For more details about the techniques used I will refer you to the posting at Interpret This!    Here I want to leave the forum open for more of a critique on the piece.

Here are some of my thoughts.

1. I like the dimensionality of the piece. This is not a flat quilt.
2. I like the shape.  I was concerned about the diamond type shape but the fact that the piece is not flat softens the shape for me and lets it work.
3. I love the subtle colors of the silk fabric which were achieved through dyeing repeatedly and then accented with shiva paint sticks.
4. I like the driftwood hanger but  I am not sure the blue really works on the driftwood.  It is a bit jarring for me.  Perhaps a different color would work better.

I am also really pleased with with my progress through the monthly Interpret This! challenge. Through this deadline my art has become a daily activity.  My growth as a fiber artist has been really  accelerated over what I would do left to my own devices.  You know what I mean, the daily press of life often pushes our dreams and goals to "if-I-have-time-at-the-end-of-the-day" status.  Here are some areas that I think I have grown in.

1. The direction I am going in my creativity.  I am moving out of my box of quilts as something to keep you warm and into quilts as part of a multi-medium approach to art.
2. The increase of surface design techniques I can use (sometimes  successfully LOL).  I still have a ways to go to master dyeing and shrinking but I am becoming more competent about what works and does not. 
3. My seeing the quilt as a complete package--hanger, surface, quilting, embellishment, etc.  The entire presentation is important and needs to be considered.

Feel free to leave me comments, good or ..  uh.....areas to grow in.

Shrinkage

Are you like me and every time you hear the word "shrinkage" you think of the famous Seinfeld episode?  Okay, this is not that type of shrinkage.  I borrowed a wonderful book (not a clue the name but I'll let your know tomorrow) that shows how to make wonderful art quilts by using wool battting to create distortions in the fabric.  The idea is that the batting shrinks more with little quilting and shrinks less with dense quilting. So, by using both types of quilting then shrinking the batting, you get a distorted (hopefully in an interesting way) art quilt.

I wanted to use this technique in my May art quilt (based on this picture) so the first step was to get a wool batting that would shrink.  That was a bit difficult to find.  Everyone boasts that their wool batting has been designed not to shrink.  Finally I found Cedarview Farms where they promise "minimal shrinkage when washed according to directions."  So, I called them up and asked if I didn't follow directions and actually went out of my way to abuse the wool by washing and drying as hot as possible, what could I expect?  Shrinkage!  Wooooo Hooooo!  I ordered a couple of small batts.

Before tackling my wonderful three shades of pink Shibori hand dyed silk, I tried the method on  a piece of cotton hand dyed fabric.  Here is the result.

Can you tell how exquisite this piece is?  I haven't decided how to finish it off but I definitely will.  I love the texture.  I am very excited and will definitely be using this technique for my May quilt.  For that picture, you will have to wait till my reveal on May 27.