wedding diorama cont.

here are more pictures

Wedding diorama cont.

After deciding on shape and size I choose fabrics to use. I chose this fabric and shape because the people that are getting married are having the wedding at a farm.
I take the fabrics and fuse them onto Fast 2 Fuse, my latest favorite material to use. After I fuse fabrics together I cut out my shapes and zig zag around the edges of all the shapes. I also always add curtains to all my dioramas and this is no exception. So I draw out the curtains and sew them with a layer of batting in between, turn them inside out and then I topstich the lines of the curtains. I used a printed fabric for these because I knew that I would be painting them gold.

Working on a wedding diorama

This is how I make my dioramas.
I start by doing a sketch and then enlarging it. First I make the outer box. I decide what size and shape it's going to be.

My trip to Falmouth MA

I took a trip to Falmouth to look for some scallop shells. I had just come up with a new product and loved it so much I wanted to make more but I didn't have more shells. So I called my friend that lives in Falmouth and asked her if she could show me some of the beaches that might have scallop shells. Well, we went from beach to beach and found not one shell. Finally we gave up and decided to get some lunch. My friend suggested that we go to one last beach and I couldn't believe it I found hundreds of shells. So here is the cute little product that I came up with.

More studio photos

In fact, here are some other photos of my work table. I love seeing all the materials together so when I have a nice arrangement on the table, I pull out the camera and take a few pictures. These photos are actually of my holiday ornaments in process I make hundreds of ornaments that I sell in stores and privately as well as on my Etsy store here is the link
http://www.etsy.com/shop/addictedtomermaids
I also have a bead and supply store and here is the link http://www.etsy.com/shop/mermaidsbeads
so right now I'm frantically trying to get caught up on my work because we had a death in the family and I got a little behind.
It feels great to get back to work, I love it sooo much.

Working in my studio

Here is a shot of the inside of my kiln with a whole bunch of tiny little items. This is how I make the buttons, beads and other accessories that I use in my work. I always love the way things look all together on the shelf.

Dreams and Visions Drip Dry

This is another diorama from my Dreams and Visions show at the Brookline Arts Center. It was constructed in the same way as the Provence diorama. The inside construction was a little different though. I angled the floor and the walls a bit to really make these look like a room. The tint mermaid is a doll and her tiny bathing suit is a piece of fabric about 1/4 inch big. I loved making these because I love a black and white checker board and as always the metallic oil sticks look so great on the fabric. The doors swing closed for moving and storage. Starfish on the front of the cabana is a ceramic button that I made. The diorama itself measures about 7 inches tall and 7 inches wide. There is a string at the back for hanging.