When nature is taking over

A few years ago, my husband and I spent a holiday in the back-lands of Malaga in Spain. During a walk in the mountains, we visited an area where they used to press olive oil. The buildings were very old, walls were falling apart and trees and weeds growing in and out the building. We didn’t go in, because there was a danger of collapse and it was too dangerous. But it was very photogenic and I took a lot of pictures. One of them inspired me to make this panel. Of course I made my own version of it and made nature taking over the wall.

To create the stones, I used Tyvek on acrylic batting and felt. The crackled walls in the bottom are a combination of mono-printed fabric, with glue on it. Before the glue was completely dry, I painted the piece with acrylic paint, mixing it with little bit a natural dye-powder. I bought this powder from Chantal a few years ago, and I really love it. The color became matted, just the way I wanted it to be. For the joints between the stones I used thick woollen threads. And then I used my sewing-machine, to make it complete.

Materials: acrylic batting and felt, eco-dyed cotton, woollen threads, Tyvek, sewing-machine yarns

Techniques: melting Tyvek on batting and felt, filling up eco-dyed pieces with extra batting, machine stitching using fantasy stitches

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