wing dress update: the last bit of struggle

---What is the Wing Dress?---
The wing dress is an ongoing project of mine
that I have been recording the 'making' process of since May '07.
The dress will have a wing/ feathers, dyed/ painted on it.
I am simultaneously making a shirt, also with a dyed wing.

on my last post i was trying to
capture a sense of "velocity" as i've
placed feathers on the paper-form of the dress

now the task is almost done here and
today, i am going to show you
an equally boring-to-you (as the last few posts) process of
deciding on last bit of details that can make or break the design

circled are the challenging-to-me areas



below:
at first, i was thinking i may add another feather here
to further emphasize the "velocity" but
either one didn't seem right...

i opted not to in the end, though
that would make it look less like a real wing


you see,
some part of me will always be wanting to make rational sense
balancing, smoothing, harmonizing things out and such
avoiding that sneaky impulse is part of the challenge



now onto the shoulder area
something seems very very...off



added another feather on the sleeve and
sent it even further down the "off" path



this is something i avoid usually
to connect the pattern at the seam

just doesn't seem to work...



hmmm...the shaft of the bottom feather on chest
looks too straight, it doesn't flow



erased the "straight"
need just a little more of something...



last details on small areas like these are important
one little extra something could turn
"too few" into "too much" and
with my kind of designs it could
change the whole vibe into "tacky"

below:
added a half-hidden feather on chest
and decided to leave it this way
with "not quite enough" look



below:
this one feather on back
stood out like it's drawn with neon



i liked the shape of the feather so i
traced and moved it about a bit
an off-line graphic trick



the finished paper dress is
to be posted the next time

my apology for a dull post but
it will make a lot of sense when
the dress is done, really

thanks for reading!
(are yu still there?)

(((smiles)))