Documenting the process of a mixed media fiber art piece - step by step

I document every piece I make and share my process on instagram almost daily. But I thought it would be good to put together a blog post that walks you through the steps I take bit by bit. It is a long and involved process, and I love every minute of it. The below piece 'The Wings of Transformation" was completed over a 21 day period. Hover over each picture to see the description of the process. Scroll down for the final piece!

Referencing my big Brain Book, I lay out the pattern. And, Ben the cat tries to get in on the action.

I start by embroidering the cerebellum using a satin stitch.

Days later, I'm still at work on the cerebellum. Its a slow process.

I start improvising a fabric collage using dragonflies cut from a dress found at Goodwill.

I'm almost done with the fabric collage. Making sure everything is where I want it to be. I use a spray adhesive to tack it down in place.

Once the collage is done I use my machine to sew down every edge directly onto the canvas using an invisible thread.

I pulled out my button box for this one and played around with different kinds of decoration and trim.

Sewing buttons down and sewing on some donated tatting that my girlfriend's grandma made.

Then I started embroidering the whole brain with a running stitch, using different colors in each of the cerebral lobes to differentiate them.

This is what the back looks like after the embroidery is finished.

The next step is to fasten the piece to artist stretcher bars with a staple gun.

The finished piece on my easel waiting for paint.

Two coats of gesso go down before I can begin painting. This would be the 3rd coat around the fiber work. I work slowly and with a tiny brush near all of the fabric.

Experimenting with hand painted dragonflies.

I ended up with handpainted dragonflies in the background and dragonflies cut from ribbon trim in the foreground.

The Wings of Transformation. Dragonflies represent change and creativity a perfect metaphor for brain activity.