The design source for these quilts was a photograph of microscopic plankton which included Porpita and Bolinopsis Vitrea. These creatures float in large shoals over the oceans surface, eating small particles of food, including each other. When light from a camera reflects on the internal organs of their transparent jelly-like forms, it splits in the same way as a prism, giving waves of spectral colour and shape. These elements were abstracted and extended to form Porpita 1,2,3 and 4.
Construction - Porpita 3 The decorative front layer. The quilt was drawn, full sized, onto heavyweight paper and then painted. I tried to show a movement of colour across the whole, from light to dark. The cutting lines for the fabric pieces were drawn on top of this picture, and the resulting shapes were used as templates for piecing the fabrics.
The fabrics used are a mixture of commercial and own dyed batiks, all in 100% cotton. The techniques include American Piecing, Applique, Curved Piecing, Foundation Piecing, and Reverse Applique (after burning holes in the completed quilt with small candles and joss sticks). It is machine quilted using 1/4" straight lines and free machined to emphasize form.
Bolinopsis Vitrea. These creatures float in large shoals over the oceans surface, eating small particles of food, including each other. When light from a camera reflects on the internal organs of their transparent jelly-like forms, it splits in the same way as a prism, giving waves of spectral colour and shape. These elements were abstracted and extended to form Porpita 1,2,3 and 4.
