Els Mommers – Blooming
Coffee pads
When last year, due to the sudden illness of my husband and hurricane Irma, we suddenly had to spend a forced stay of six months in the Netherlands, I did not have much material to be creative. At one point I started playing with used coffee pads on white fabrics and made a few small quilts out of it. For the BLOOMING theme I thought it would be fun to go back to this technique.
Used wet coffee pads are laid on white cotton fabric, sprayed with a turquoise paint and then let dry in the full sun to get beautiful structures. Dried pads are painted, padded and covered with acrylic wax and sewed onto the dried cotton background to get the idea of flowers. I cut some pieces out of the cotton and attached painted and shrunk tyvek underneath to get some texture. Flower stems and leaves are added and coloured with inktense pencil. Large parts are quilted with polyester yarn in bubble motif.
In order to brighten up a bit more, shiny open synthetic material has been added around the flowers as well as some Swarovski crystals. Finally some French knots are embroidered. The whole process can be seen on my blog: http://kunamola.blogspot.com
Detail views:
FIFTEEN BY FIFTEEN 
Dear Els, you arrive always to surprise me with your stunning works! An excellent result I love it.
What a great idea for using “found materials”! Love the organic movement of this dark garden.
WOW! Else, you impressed me on this! I clicked on the link to your blog and tried to read it 🙂 Luckily there are many photos that express you process very well.
Your creativity goes beyond limits and the result is stunning.
Thank you Maryte. On the left side of my blog should be a button to translate, but I must say the translation is often very funny.
I hope to see this one in real some day😉. You techniques and creativity are endless!!! Beautiful.
Very impressive! You did a great job of working with limited materials. I am particularly intrigued by the stitching on the coffee pods and the 3d effect you have achieved. Am I correct in assuming that the pods still contain the coffee grounds? Your use of embroidery is effective in drawing the viewer in for closer examination.
Thank you Ann. No I dry the used coffee pads and make a slit in the back to remove the coffee grounds. Through the slit I fill the pad again with some batting and stitch it on with a free motion spiral, what gives it the 3 D effect.
Els your imagination has no limits ! this is a very good interpretation of the theme. I love how the blue paint spreads around the coffee pads. I have to check your blog !
Wow, I love the effect that you achieved with such ‘found’ materials. The contrast of the coffee pads with the beautiful background is wonderful, and I love the way you have added batting to the pads to make them stand out. Very original.
This is wonderful, the colours, method you used and the attention to detail.Great piece, I love it.
Goodness me, what a lot of technique in one small quilt! The result is impressive.
Very impressive! Cool technique. Great colors and I like the touch of the crystals. Just right! Lovely work!
As always, you made a very good composition and unexpected use of materials. I love the way your work in blooming with the coffepads. My compliments!