Kahawai Run

This long runner quilt began its life as a piece of eco dyed fabric that was too wet in the steamer so the leaf imprints became blobs of colour instead of printed leaf shapes. I never throw these “disasters” away because they can often be reinvented in another manner. Such was this case in point.

The fish, again a precursor to the Reef quilt , were printed using the gyotaku, Japanese method. A kahawai fish was applied with grades of light acrylic paint and then the fabric was wrapped over the fish. The fish was kept stable by “inserting “ it into a roughly shaped piece of foam. The fish imprint was transferred to the fabric. Each print can be slightly different according to the colour of the paint used. The outlines of the fish, their eyes, tails and fins were enhanced with machine stitching and the background free machine quilted with a random stipple stitch. In printing yhe fish I have tried to slightly overlap and have some fish swimming into and out of the picture to make it more like a kahawai run. Kahawai are a common fish off the New Zealand coast and delicious smoked but it is always difficult to get a smallish one from my husband for art work so, in the past I have purchased a small one whole from the supermarket. I have tried mullet as well but the shape and definition of the kahawai make them an excellent choice for this type of printing. When I had finished painting, the fish was consigned to my vegetable garden as fish fertiliser as I did not want to eat the fish after it may have absorbed some portions of paint.

I have sold several individual fish prints done in this manner, framed for wall art.