The Big Fish (projection of Borth community map onto calico fabric)

The big fish is a project map of Borth community boundary which I found on their community website.   The map was projected onto calico fabric almost 3 metres long.   I drew around the projection using soft pastels, using green to reflect the land side of the boundary and blue on the sea side of the map.

I have started to populate the map now using various media including

heat transfer - I have used a photograph of the mud flats and cut this up and then attached it using double sided tape to hold it in place and then stitched into it with mohair wool, which is very subtle against the image.  It is also very soft against the harshness of the dry mud flats.  Also, being Wales, I associate wool with Wales.

I have painted on roads using concentrated yellow watercolour and also drawn on in soft pastels.   The drawback with the soft pastels is that they smudge easily when the fabric is rubbed together which has happened en route to college as the fabric is so large it has to be folded up.   I could though use a fixative

"So, what is fixative? Fixative contains a large amount of alcohol and diluted damar crystals that, when sprayed onto a surface, can hold (“fix”) pastel pigments onto it. As a result, it protects the drawings and prevents smudging." (http://www.explore-drawing-and-painting.com/pastel-fixative.html)

I am concerned that the size of the piece is not going to work and will look like a cut and paste piece.  I see the piece being hung up, by creating a flap at the top and threading either rope from the beach or a piece of wood.  Given the length of it, I am doing to allow it to drape on the floor and add some rocks at the bottom and maybe a bit of sand.

There are pieces on the fish that have been printed on a4 linen fabric for example the "serving suggestion".  Again I don't want the piece to look full of stuck on pieces so I am taking care to ensure this doesn't happen.  I feel though that at this stage with most of my work, I feel uncertain whether it is any good.   It is usually a few months later that I look and think "mmm that was pretty good".

The fish is to be completed with more hand stitching and will be titled "wish you were here".  I have looked at the "wish you were here" logo from the television programme but it's not anything worth replicating.  I see the title though to be large and diagonal and maybe embellished with yellow wool tops.