Doily Art

Before I start this post, I have to share that I had no idea how to spell "doily." For the longest time, I was writing "dollies" and coming up with images of several creepy-looking antique dolls. I finally added the word "crochet" to the beginning of my search and found what I was looking for. So, the art to honor the weirdest word in the world...

I was never much for doilies before meeting my mother-in-law, but she always sent us boxes of fun treasures and there was usually some doilies tucked in there somewhere. I've now been scouring garage sales for ones that are reasonably priced and this weekend, I hit the mother load. I literally bought an entire box full of doilies for $2.00. Score!

This art was inspired by krokrolamb and their amazing work! Seriously, check out these doilies! This was the original source of inspiration:

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My first step was making the little birdie, I used scraps of different doilies and cut them into the shape of the bird's body. The wing detail was already exactly the right shape, yay! The legs were the edging of a doily and little feet were part of a scallop. I used cheap 'ole acrylic paint to add a pop of color.

 Next, I laid all the doilies out on the canvas. I debated about adding small circles to fill the empty spaces between the doilies, but I wasn't happy with how it looked, so I ditched that idea. There is everything laid out before adding the color.

 The painting of the doilies...

 The fabric soaks up the paint, it took a bit more than I expected. It did go pretty quickly, though. I used a foam brush and literally used it like a sponge, using my fingers to dab the paint onto the doily. Initially, I painted both sides, but I found it wasn't necessary and quickly resorted to painting just the one side.

Once they were dried (they dry really quick!), I laid them out and glued them down using Tacky Glue. It was a little messy, but looked great!

 Here it is!

 I painted the canvas a very light off-white, you can tell if you look at the "speech bubbles" coming out of the bird's mouth, which are a true white.

 And last, but not least, the pup used the finished art as a mat to sit on. If it's on the ground, it is fair game, after all... Sigh.