prehistoric inspiration

I was inspired by the Prehistoric Fossilised Mammoth tooth in the Slough Museum.

I took a photo of the tooth, then resized it and printed it on fabric in a variety of sizes and colourations.

I tested a large variety of fabrics to see which ones worked well with the tooth.

These were a possibiilty, but I ended up choosing fabrics that contrasted with the tooth.

I ripped a rectangle of rust fabric, cut out the tooth and bonded it to the fabric with Bond-a-Web.

I did the same with some smaller versions of the tooth.

My daughter's old trousers were the perfect colour and texture for the background fabric, so I cut them apart.

I laid out the pieces on my work surface to find the best arrangement. I was pleased to find the African tie-dyed fabric which looked really good next to the tooth.

I machine quilted the tie-dyed fabric to the background at the top left. I sewed the other tie-dyed fabric to the bottom, with a strip of the tooth fabric at the left. I bond-a-webbed the other rectangles to the background. Next, the quilting.