My Moon Dress
On a trip to Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin I came across Patrick Scottās painting Chinese Landscape. He uses gold leaf on canvas to create the sun. He used acrylic adhesive to prevent the gold leaf from cracking.
I was keen to try a similar technique on a dress. I took my inspiration from the rare occurrence of a full moon on Christmas day. I love the moon, I love pictures of the moon, jewellery inspired by the moon so what could be better than a dress with the moon on it.
I made a black dress using the same Coco pattern I used for my maroon jersey dress. I really wanted to try to use gold leaf but after a bit of research I realised that it probably wouldnāt launder well so I decided on a bronze acrylic paint mixed with a fabric medium. I chalked an outline of a circle on the dress and away I went layering the bronze paint. I was delighted, immediately there was a lovely uneven surface, like the moon. The bronze created a deep rich gold type colour which is what I was looking for. It looked moonlike.
It took AGES to dry, it was a few days lying around before it was dry enough to wear, which was very frustrating. Finally it was dry enough to iron it to fix the colour and I was ready to go. The paint does make the fabric stiff, but I like that, it gives the dress a nice shape and means the moon doesnāt get lost in the folds of the fabric.
