Phoenix

As promised, here is what I've made for darling husband for his birthday. It's a picture of a phoenix, a firebird that dies in fire and is then reborn from ashes – to symbolize picking oneself up after various life difficulties, such as grant rejections, bad reviews, etc.  The Russian equivalent is Жар-птица, so I used my memories of beautiful pictures from the fairy tale books (although I haven’t heard any stories about Жар-птица burning and being reborn, but never mind).

 

The picture is not very big; the frame size is 25 x 25 cm. The felt that was used for the bird is from the Fabric Guild; as far as I remember, it contains some wool, but mainly viscose. I am definitely going back for more, as I found it much easier to work with for an applique than the acrylic felt from Hobbycraft and the eco-felt from Kunin (actually, from Coventry market) that I mainly used before.The black swirly-whirlies, which were to fill in the empty space around the phoenix, are made from the abformentioned acrylic felt from Hobbycraft. In my original drawing the bird looked peaceful and serene, but here it came out... different. It's interesting how a fraction of a millimeter difference gives a face a very different expression. Something to experiment with!