August 2019 Art Elements Challenge - Octopus

Well, here we are again!  Another month, another challenge.  This month I was able to participate in one of my favorite theme challenges ever...Octopus.  Thanks to Claire for the great choice!  You'll have to forgive me for the picture heavy/narration light post.  I had fully intended to walk you through more of the creative process, but was so excited to be working on this project that I completely forgot to stop and take any pictures!

I've always loved cephalopods of any type, but especially octopuses.  This is my small collection of commercial stuffed octopus.  I used the gray one to make a pattern from...

I drew directly on the seams of the stuffed animal, so I could see the seams easier.  This allowed me to pin some tracing paper on to the animal and trace off the pattern pieces.  Once I could see the flat shapes, I decided how big my finished critter should be and started enlarging everything.

Stuffing the tentacles was a challenge and took most of one day.  They ate up an entire California king sized high loft quilt batting!!!

And then, stuffing the body used up all the rest of the stuffing that I had on hand and sent me out to the fabric store for more!  

Here we are, fully stuffed, though there is still quite a bit of work to go. 

I knew there was no way I could apply 3 dimensional suckers in the time I had left, so I went more of an interpretive direction.

I bought Liquitex fabric medium so that I could make "fabric" paint from normal acrylic paints.  This medium allows the acrylic paint to stay flexible when dry, and changes the viscosity so that it is less likely to soak into the fabric. 

Once all the paint dried, I had to take Ottoman the Octopus out on the town...or really just out of doors for some good light!

The suckers dried to the perfect subtle hint of texture. 

 

I bet you didn't know that babies and octupuses get along swimmingly...I didn't either!

I hope you had fun checking out my creation!  Ottoman wishes you well.  Please hop along and check out how everyone was inspired by these fascinating cephalopods this month!  I'm off to do just that. 

Guest artists:
Cat
Evie and Beth
Hope

Karen
Kathy
Melissa
Michelle
Rozantia
Sarajo
Tammy

Art Elements Team:
Cathy
Claire
Jenny
Laney

Lindsay (you are here!)

Marsha