Finding the Right Fabric

Finding the right fabric is always the most important step.  I pulled a stack of fabric that I thought might work but then I found this one.  It is an ombre print called Effervescence by Kaufman.  Gorgeous fabric made of zillions of circles.  And the colors fade from black to brown.  Isn't it just dazzling?

So I used ONLY this fabric for almost the entire face and chose light and dark sections to match the light and dark sections of the painting.  

And this is what he looks like.  The method to make this face was designed by Esterita Austin and I was privileged and thrilled to attend a three day in person class in Hot Springs Village several years ago.  She was inspiring and such a great teacher and I use her method all the time.  

It is complicated.  You have a freezer paper copy of the drawing and cut out a single section of the paper at a time and place the whole piece over the fabric and audition the fabric through the hole to find the right piece to cut out.  Then cut that little chunk out, add Misty Fuse to the back of the fabric, replace the paper and tape it in place and pin the fabric piece on top, then cut out another section and find the next piece.  WHEW!  It is not hard - but it is complicated and requires attention.