Revelation Burning

A few years ago I visited my Mum's friend. She had attended a workshop called 'Revelation Burning' at our local material shop. She was already on her second project using the same technique. It's addictive stuff. And the results were amazing. I signed myself up.

I'm self-taught. Other than a few school lessons this was the first workshop I'd ever gone to. I never would have thought about taking a soldering iron to a piece of material. The idea is you reveal as much or as little of the design on the material as you want to.

Once you've chosen your material lay it flat, pattern upwards. Place a layer of felt over it and then 2 pieces of organza. Pin it together. Turn the material over. Decide which parts of the design you want to show. Sew on the lines of the pattern using a satin stitch (a very tight zigzag stitch). Turn the material back over. With a craft soldering iron you start burning away the organza and felt in between your stitching. You need a light hand so you don't burn through the material.

I chose a Japanese kimono design...

It's only 18 inches tall by 12 inches wide so not too big a project to work on.

I managed to complete most of it during the workshop and then it took probably another day to finish soldering through a few more flowers, and solder away the outside material to reveal the kimono shape. I sewed tiny blue beads onto each flower to make it more interesting. Then made some tabs so I could hang it. I found the hanger on the internet.

Here's the link to Jennifer Trollope's website. You can see her 'take' on the same kimono pattern (bottom right)http://jennifertrollope.com/2008/06/kimono-magic/

It's a Hawaiian theme for the next burning session!

Until tomorrow,
Nic xx