Let's try that again

This time, I'll post the steps as I go on one. I've been wanting to experiment with melted poly sheers for a while, but had neither the sheers nor a heat gun. Thanks to my dear friend Vicki in Miami, and the $1 table at WalMart, I now have both. I began by layering the sheers in a not-planned-ahead design.

I stitched them down with black thread on a cotton background. After the first few rows of stitching, I added the black felt batting for stability with the sheers. I started by stitching down the outline of each piece, then doing some quilting lines, again with black, over the different pieces, keeping in mind that anything without stitching in it had the potential to melt away to nothing. I didn't do any specific patterns with the stitching, just random and relatively close together.

I also layered different colors and fabrics over each other to see how the under layers came through. I also added some fine lace that doesn't melt. I debated doing everything and then melting it, but finally decided to melt this much of it and add more. I knew I needed some dark at the top. I had the best time playing with the melting part! And no "art incidents" from the fumes this time. The last piece I added is 4 layers of the red over a layer of the lace. I wanted more depth of color than I was getting from one layer and I wanted the lace to peek out of the holes. I love the way it looks right now, but it will most likely get some beading and embellishments on it. And I'll definitely have to get some close-up shots of the detail once I'm done. Very cool effect, and worth the wait for playing with it.