Sandra's starfish

The background is a piece of fabric, Virginia and I painted/dyed with Seta colour and salt last summer. When I saw the starfish, I instantly envisioned rumpled fabric. So I cut my starfish out of organza and some red lycra I had and then I took random stitches to scrunch it up. While I was working on this postcard, I received a new batch of ribbon and decided this was the perfect spot to try it out. The brown is a hand-dyed cotton and the pink stone is cotton with random stitches to represent the indents I thought I could see in the original.

Gloria's starfish

The background technique I used is one I’ve been developing for the last couple of years.  I started with artist type canvas and then used an encaustic method using wax to colour the canvas.  I’m teaching this method of Encaustic fabric technique at seminar in May if you get a chance drop into the classroom. 

I thought of painting the background but when my wonderful guild president offered me this material I decided to go with it, since I was recovering from a compression fracture of the spine & wasn’t back to shopping yet.    She also shared her stash of shells with me which conveniently came from a necklace & therefore were already for threading!  

But back to the beginning.  We were in the process of switching from a PC to a MacIntosh computer & our printer was not yet installed so starfish was enlarged by hand.  As soon as I saw him, I saw french knots but it was the composition with which I struggled.  Then driving home from a stitch-in I suddenly knew what I would do.  I have always wanted to stitch shells so I chose the ones from the picture that I really liked & that offered  variety in colour & texture. As well I have been intrigued by Helen Stevens’ embroideries so hauled out my books & decided to try this simple interpretation of water.  I decided if I didn’t like it I could always rip it out!  I used different sized needles for raising or lowering my french knots.  The shells were fun to interpret especially the smallest for which I used hand painted Japanese silk & loved the effect.  

Carol's starfish

Kim's starfish

I chose a fabric and thread very close to the picture provided. I decided this time to do Hardanger embroidery. This decision happened very quickly. As the work developed I liked how the contrast of the grey and red in areas matched the variations of the starfish’s outer shell. When completing the card, I removed all back fabric to give a “window” where the starfish is located. This technique I like to do with Hardanger to allow that transparent characteristic and to bring attention to the woven areas. This also reminded me of how you see the starfish while it is underwater….not as clearly as if it were on land due to the current and waves of the water. I had some shells around and added them to the final product to add texture to the piece. I only added a few as I wanted the starfish to be the centre of attention.

Linda's starfish

I had some upholstery fabric that reminded me of the rocks in the tidal pool. That fabric became my background for the front and back of my postcard. I also had some red beads that I knew would be perfect for the starfish. They were, but it took awhile to get them right. I tried putting them on randomly, but the arms of the starfish looked diseased. I also tried putting the beads on in a row the width of each arm, but that didn’t look right either. Finally, I tried couching them lengthwise on each arm and that worked. She really looks like she’s moving in the water.

Something was still missing, so I added pearl beads randomly. I even put some in the barnacles. That was all that was needed.

Sue's starfish

To make my postcard I made a photo transfer of the image and put it on a lilac batik background. Next I cut it into 4 horizontally , rearranged the pieces and sewed them back together. I then cut the piece in 4 vertically and sewed them back together. I repeated this process once more. When I was finished I had bits of red starfish scattered over the design area. Where ever there was a bit of starfish I created a whole starfish.I knew that starfish regenerate them selves if they lose a limb and wanted to use this in my design.

Gillian's starfish

When I first saw this blood starfish, I was thunderstruck, which probably says something about being a prairie person. As I looked, I sensed something showgirl-ish about this red Star flaunting her colours in the tidal pool. Even the pose said Look at Me. The barnacles transformed themselves, before my very eyes, into kleig lights, and I realized that what lay before me was:

*****And the winner is…..Ms Blood Starfish, starring in The Tidal Pool*******

Joyce D's Starfish

The background fabric is hand dyed and salted to get the different shadows. I then laid Angelina fibres between the background fabric and white nylon tulle. This created a shiny watery effect for the background.

The stumpwork starfish was stitched with 2 strands of DMC floss and 1 strand of rayon and then attached to the background. The rayon gave the starfish a ‘wet’ look. The long leaves were also stitched as a stumpwork slip and then attached. .

There are three various size stitched ’shells’. I used #12 perle cotton in two shades. The large ’shell’ is over a small plastic ring; the two smaller ones were started by wrapping the thread around a pencil and then using a buttonhole stitch to make the circle stronger. The centres and outside edges are detached buttonhole.

I added a couple of pieces of sea glass and some shells that I had in my stash.