Skin/Coverings Challenge...

I've previously mentioned that I wanted to re-visit my sketch book for our new challenges, to expand my ideas resulting in a different outcome.
So for this next challenge I dipped into my Pompeii sketch book. My starting point was the covering of Ash that fell over the entire city and suffocated all its inhabitants.

But what to put under the Ash?

I had already done a sample of free machining onto painted vanishing muslin and fabric, depicting the elaborate mosaic design from The House of the Large Fountain.

sketch book sample

This was a beautiful site and amazing that it stood there for us to admire after the terrible disaster that took place in 79AD.

The House of the Large Fountain Mosaic

I liked the above sample but decided to use my hand dyed colourful fabrics for the background to show the richness of their décor, layered with painted vanishing muslin for texture.

To represent the Ash I chose mono printed fabric and grey fabric, which was a piece I had rusted but thought the rust marks would represent the lava falling onto the city, this is beginning to sound very grim but hopefully that's not how you will view the finished work.
However, after the background mosaic design was stitched and zapped with a heat gun, the Ash fabrics and hand dyed scrim was layered with wadding and free machine quilted onto the mosaic background, revealing what was...

'Under the Cover of Ash'

Thanks for reading
Sue