The laundry

I only wish this piece showed up better. I spent a lot of time making this piece, but didn't take any photos of the piece in progress. It is 6" wide X 4 1/2" long.

I began by adding some gorgeous green paper that Rita sent me. I love this paper, and am just tickled to have it. Next I sewed thread lengthwise in several places on the piece. Then I added brown, purple, and turquoise paint in various places through a punchinella stencil.

I spent a great deal of time designing the clothing. It's no secret that I don't draw, so even these simple shapes were a real challenge for me. When I was satisfied they looked like real clothes, I backed some sheets of a phone book with card stock, then cut the clothes. I glazed the dress and pants, and used fluid acrylic gold on the shirt. When the dress was dry, I added the white through punchinella (using pigment ink). For the blouse and pants, I painted a pastry (pie crust) decorator using red paint and rolled it over the pieces.

To assemble, I used some old string and two brads I painted with brown antiquing ink that was oil based and took forever to dry. I used six cotter pins instead of tiny clothes pins because I liked the look.

I really love this piece. In fact, I like it so much, I am tempted to keep it!