RI Spring Flower and Garden Show

In less than a week I will be exhibiting at the Rhode Island Spring Flower and Garden Show. I have never done a show of this size before so I’m a bit nervous about it. I’ve spent some time since November thinking about how I want to market my work and I’ve decided that since I want to concentrate more on the work that is important to me I will have to step up my game a bit.
I started a couple of years ago making tie dyed t-shirts and selling them at craft fairs. It was an important step for me at the time to just get out there and give it a try. I make very nice tie dyes and being able to sell them gave me a real confidence boost. Since then I have begun to develop work that is far more intensive than tie dyes. This is the type of work I love to do and I want to concentrate on. However doing so means I will have to find more upscale venues than high school gymnasiums in order to sell it for what it is worth. Thus the RI Flower Show.
Since it’s a flower show I wanted to have something thematic in addition to my usual work, I had two floral pieces done, the poppies above and the daffodils I made last year. I decided to do a couple more floral piecework banners to compliment those. Here is how it went…
I started with four scetches of designs I wanted to do and quickly realized there was no way I would be able to get them all done in time so I narrowed it down to two.
The little designs were scaled up to the size I wanted and drawn onto transparent film.
I decided I wanted to add a ground element behind the floral to strengthen the composition. I needed more greens for the leaf and ground elements so I dyed a selection of fabrics that I could use together using the soda soak method.
To create a range of 8 greens I started with 4 colors: gold, grey, green and brown each in a 10 grm/1C base solution. By using the same core colors in varying amounts I can create a range of greens that are harmonious.
I started by working out the colors I wanted by using a chart like so:

Each number represents an equal part (Olive green = 1pt gold + 3pt green + 2pt brown)
To create the 3 different densities I cut the base solution with water to a third of its strength and again to a third of that strength.
The fabric was krinkled up onto a flat surface and the dyes were squirted on using bottles
Dk and Md on one piece Md and Lt on another to create a light and a dark version of each color.
Here is the range of greens I got:

I used the same process to create a range of pinks and violets.
All fabrics were then cut fused and stitched to create these two new flower pieces