Nicks birthday. Both are projects that I found in a book called "The Art of Stitching on Metal". Thankfully, I confessed this to Nicks as it turns out she has the same book! Lol! The dish is 3 different types of copper that have been heat treated and woven together. The woven piece is then placed on Kunin felt with a piece of chiffon over the top.
The whole lot is stitched together on a sewing machine and then heat distressed with a heat gun. The felt melts to give a lacy pattern and the chiffon melts away. You can distress as much or as little as you like. Whilst the metal is still warm, you bend and pinch the sides to give the dish its shape.
This may look easy but it was an absolute nightmare trying to hold it all together whilst getting an old temperamental sewing machine to do it's stuff! I did have plastic pegs holding the weave in place but decided to try and change the colour of the copper with my heat gun. That didn't work and it bonded the plastic peg with the silk and copper mesh. Blood, sweat and tears this project cost me! Lol!
The seed pod gift bag is a piece of thick silk edged with a decorative fibre with copper mesh on top. There are two larger outer pieces and two smaller inner pieces. Shaped and tied with the decorative fibre.