Skulduggery

Skulduggery @ EleanorLucy Millinery
The weird and the wonderful: Experimentation

19/11/2012
The Hummingbird Project: Update #2

The first piece of news is that I think I might have a set a new world record for folding silk hummingbirds - 11 mins 47 seconds! Secondly, I'm very very nearly finished - it just needs lining now and it's good to go! There was a minor false start when I realised I was three birds short (luckily now I can look back and laugh...) but I think it's been worth it - this one's a show stopper, even if I so say so myself!

I love that it's not obvious that it's a charm of hummingbirds (ooh I do love a good collective noun) from a distance, but once up close and personal there are glimpses of individuals all over the place. Timewise and moneywise, I think this one's going to have to be for hire, 11 mins and 47 seconds or not!!

The new base: Silk dupion button on canvas foundation
Slowly but surely: About 15 birds down... about 35 to go!!
Three birds short! And so a bit of a gap in the middle...
Finished at last!
 
Just the lining left to do


02/10/2012 
The Hummingbird Project

Earlier this year, I was stiffening silk to make flowers for the floral cage hat to prevent it from fraying and to give it more body. The process also happily makes the silk behave like paper, and so as a recent origami convert I had to try it out! The silk blackbird was my initial test - this confirmed that whilst extremely fiddly, requiring significant levels of patience, and mortally dangerous to one's fingers, silk can indeed be origami-ed with a very hot iron to hand. Exciting times!

I immediately fell in love with some beautiful shimmering blue-green dupion from Broadwick Silks and embarked on Project Hummingbird. It's been a labour of love (each bird takes approx 20 mins, and I've made around 50!) but next week I'm making a new button base in the same silk and can embark on sewing them into their final flurry of positions at last!

Halfway through Project Hummingbird on a sample button block base

Finished photos to follow sometime next week!


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