making a forest revelry - part 1

I have an Arcade Fire gig poster with jungle animals playing instruments (top right). I see it everyday, so I often imagine animals jamming.

I started this piece on a Friday afternoon while Nemo rolled in. Both Dave and I can work remotely, so we went to the store early Friday morning and didn't leave until Saturday morning. Plenty of time for making :) .

 I had never in my life heard such a howling wind. We live on the top floor of the tallest building in our area, and we get insane gusts from the ocean just north of Boston. The image on my iPad shows the power outages that evening. We live in the center of the big red circle. Fortunately, we live in a densely populated square, and our power lines are underground.

I traced the drawing on vellum so I could cut out the patterns. I thought that due to their small size, it would be easiest to hold onto a harder vellum pattern than a floppy piece of paper. I was wrong. It's much easier to photocopy the original drawing and cut out the pieces. The floppiness of the paper is important in order to have flexibility while cutting.

Here are a few Nemo pics!

Mass. Ave, Cambridge, MA 02.09.13

Mass. Ave, Cambridge, MA 02.09.13

Calm after the storm.

Drunk kitty helping me draw.

Party's gettin' started! These shots are taken a few weeks later. It takes roughly a week to cut the fabric pieces for one character and plan the thread colors. It takes about another week to sew it.

~3 months later.

The trees are in a finished state above. Their weight was substantial and texture magnificent from all of the layers and chain stitches.

This photo shows the four racoon pieces. Next I wrapped wire in a single thread for the paws.

• Forest Revelry Print
• Making a forest revelry - part 2