Unveiling Numbers 3:16

And here is the finished piece!

It's pretty self explanatory I think...It has a slightly tribal feeling to it which I didn't plan, but is still fitting for the verse.

A few details:

 For the first time I tried threading my machine with 2 threads. So they both go through the tension system and through 1 needle. It just gives a little more definition to the shapes. Surprisingly no broken threads or needle! :)

Why I always take a photo before printing......Unveiling of Numbers, but not quite.

Numbers 3:16 And Moses numbered them according to the word of the LORD, as he was commanded.

Unveiling of Numbers 3:16. But not quite... I am always scared to start the part where I have to do letter printing on fabric. And for a reason....This is where I was up to an hour before dinner. And then I was so keen to see the finished one that I started printing straight away with the intention to be finished before dinner.

And then this is what happens:(((

So I am back to the background. I already have taken off the counting embroidery part and have to redo the background which is quite a lot of work. I made stencils of  'people shapes' and used inktense paint blocks + pencils + oil paint sticks + gold paint to give them some colour. Then I rubbed some oil sticks over number stencils and stitched with a double thread all around the people.

It was a fun process and I am quite happy to redo it. At least I will change the letter format and positioning of the verse. The upside of making mistakes is maybe that it will only get better :)

Numbers 3:16 start

Numbers 3:16
And Moses numbered them according to the word of the LORD, as he was commanded. 

Another book and verse to start thinking about. When I first saw the verse I thought there is not much to think about.....What am I going to make of this?
Usually I start with reading a commentary about the chapter, jotting down words, or drawing pictures I associate with the verse. And I always put it into google and quickly scrolling over images. Not much came up, only pictures associated with Moses I guess. Like these:



Not much help.

Reading from Matthew Henry I gathered that Moses had to count all the Levites from a month old and upward. The babies of course couldn't serve in the tabernacle, but still had to be included. It appears that a little more than a third part of the Levites were fit to be employed in the service of the tabernacle (about 8000 out of 22.000). Yet God would have them all numbered.

So I started thinking about numbering, counting, people. How would I express that??
Counting is done in different ways. Putting people in groups or families. You can count on  your fingers, write down numbers, or dots, or lines.

After all this verse took more planning then I first thought....For the first time I haven't made any sketches. It just took root in my mind. I came up with an idea of some embroidery, picturing a sort of counting system. The background has to be a mixture of fabric painting/stamping. What colour I don't know yet.

First some experiments:

Some fabric dyeing and scrunching for a background I can later maybe stamp on. But the colours didn't turn out very well. Tried some free motion sewing and painting some petals. Mainly out of curiosity to see it the paints hold and not bleed.

Tried rubbing a derwent Inktense block over some fibrous underlay. Not what I need, but keep it for maybe some other piece.

Rubbing to get a grid pattern. And burning holes with a soldering iron into cobweb paper. fun....but very smelly and probably not very good for my lungs ;)

Putting fabric over letter stencils and then rubbing with oil sticks. Like! And an idea for the background fabric.

Yes, Counting!! A Sneak Peek what I am doing with the embroidery. I had some white embroidery cotton which I dyed in a strong coffee and tea mixture. It's got a nice natural colour now :)

Leviticus finished

And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet savour: all the fat is the LORD'S. Lev. 3:16

Due to family visit I haven't been able to spend much time on designing and sewing, let alone blogging...But I am back into it now!

This one symbolizes the offering the priest had to make. It appeared that it had to be the kidneys. So I decided to make this from a birds' eye perspective. So you see the yellow (with copper foiling on top, which is not really visible in the picture) rims of the altar and its 4 corners. I tried to make a sort of 'coal' structure on the black fabric and on it you see the kidneys. Inside the kidney I cut up different reds, oranges and yellows and cut them into flame shapes to represent burning. The fat is free motion sewn into a netting shape. It is the Lord's as it spirals out over the edge.

 Btw the picture should be rotated 90 degrees left...but can't figure that out right now.

Detail. You can also see the words which I stamped on the rim of the altar.

I have also done some interesting binding technique. You can't see it because it is at the back. I didn't want a visible binding, because that would restrain it and it already has some sort of frame anyway.

Faced binding technique I used and learned from a dvd I watched: Design, Paint and Stitch by Judy Coates Perez.

Cut 4 wide fabric strips, fold them in half. Sew the raw edge to the quilt raw edge, but start and stop 1/4 inch from the beginning and end.

Fold the corners on a 45 deg. angle and finger press them.

This picture should be last, but for some reason I am fighting with blogspot today ;), but this one shows how the back of the quilt looks. Nice and clean finish

Sew on the pressed line. And trim seam back to 1/4 inch.

 

Fold to the back.

 

Leviticus in progress

And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet savour: all the fat is the LORD'S.

I find this a difficult verse to express into a image. I can see the picture of the priest making the offering, but that's not so easy to translate in a textile image.
For this one I did a LOT of sketching, and trying different colour schemes. In the end I came up with the idea of seeing the altar from a birds-eye perspective. On the altar is the food offering. The food offering are kidneys. There has to be fat (how do I do that?) I have got an idea of free motion stitching in a creamy colour, but better first practise...And what about the fire? I think I might put some flames inside the kidneys. Kidneys look like this:

And I might make the darker segments look like flames.

Some sketching

A fabric I found. I thought it might serve for the coals and colouring in some orange to represent the fire. But I don't really like it. So....

Mixed some white and black fabric paint and stamped it on black fabric. Maybe a bit less paint? But other than that quite happy to use it.

I am going to use a golden yellow for the square of the altar and the corners. But would like to add some copper to it. Got some copper foil. All you do is dab some glue on the fabric, leave it for about 10 min. It should still be tacky. Place the copper foil on top of the fabric and iron!! Nice.

Leviticus 3:16 start

It's time for the third one: Leviticus 3:16 And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet savour: all the fat is the LORD'S.

Imagine making a quilt about an offering. and burning animals on an altar...Hence, I cannot skip this verse, so better start thinking about the chapter and its meaning.

This chapter deals with a so called Peace Offering and the rules and sacrifices to be made. In all cases, specific animal parts that are covered with fat are to be burnt on the altar. One of the chief characteristics of sacrificial offerings was their agreeable aroma.
We usually think of fat as something to get rid of. But to the people of ancient times, fat was associated with richness. 'all the fat is the LORD'S'

The offerings also tell us that the blood of animals cannot take away guilt, but only the sacrifice of Christ Himself: Ephesians 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

I thought it very hard to capture everything in a quilt, since I don't like to work to realistic. So rather not have a picture of a priest offering...

 

 

This is the shape of the altar

 

 

 

But maybe more looking at the shape of the altar and the pieces which were offered (kidneys). 

I jotted down a few words to get ideas: thanksgiving, peace, thanking for all goodness, prosperity, peace.

kidneys, nice smell, fat, smoke, burning.

I had this fabric, which I thought would work for coals, I tried to paint some piece orange for fire. But I am not happy with the look. I have been sketching a lot this time, trying to come up with a good colour scheme and this doesn't really fit it. What now?

Maybe just black and use that as a background. What about this?

I mixed some black and white and used bubble wrap to stamp onto the black. I might use this as the background fabric.

Unveiling Exodus 3:16

"Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt"

 Nearly finished. This is the top layer, but it only becomes a quilt when it has 3 layers. I wanted to have the 'burning bush' idea in there as well, so I started practising 'flame' patterns.

 Decided to go for the orange/yellow thread.

I found it very scary. The top layer looked good so far. Won't I ruin it by sewing all over it?

Well, this is it! The 'bricks' on the left hand are made from teabags. I drew the images on them. One says the word elders in hieroglyphics, others have Pharaoh's, slaves, evil eye, snakes on it. Top right is the land flowing with milk and honey, Hebrew words, the 12 tribes as in 12 stones. The verse is written on papyrus.

You can't see it very well, but I did some interesting binding: Twisted some gold thread and zigzagged it straight on the edge.

 Detail Egypt

 Stitching at the back

Detail Canaan