Siphonophore

It was lot of fun taking off from Ernst Haeckel's drawing from the late 1800's.

Of course I took many liberties, but tried to retain the spirit of the original while using some fun materials and new, to me, techniques.

40x40"

I used some commercial batik that was overpainted, coarsely woven raw edge linen,

heat treated non wovens, expanded foam half rounds, and a little bit of cotton knit.

It's machine stitched with added paint, and I finally taught myself how to do French knots which finish off the center.