Shape Mode / Pathfinder Help

[Angel]

Hope an Illustrator guru can help.
I lucked into a very cool effect a month or so ago and have forgotten how to recreate it.

I drew an outline of a musical instrument.
Then I chose a stock symbol of a tall flower (and think I expanded it).
Then somehow I was able to merge the two together so that the flower became the shape of the instrument; almost like text on a path. Of course it didn't really look like the flower anymore but it retained the colors and gradents.

I've tried every combination of shape modes and pathfinder options to no avail.

Any thoughts?

[DCurry]

You probably used the Blend command.

[The Repro Kid]

If I'm understanding what you created, you may have used the symbol to create a brush, and then applied the flower brush to the stroke that delineated the musical instrument. Something like this? (I chose the Pattern Brush when creating the new brush.)

[Angel]

I do appreciate your help.
I've attached a sample file that shows my situation more clearly.
The small flower is what I started with before somehow combining with the harp form.

[The Repro Kid]

Okay, this one uses the "Art Brush" setting when creating the brush, not the pattern brush like the first one. This one is not as nice as yours, you may have to play with the stroke a bit after the brush has been applied to get the flower where you want it. You can also expand the shape after the brush has been applied to edit more carefully. Also I did the strings by blending the longest and shortest and had to expand the blend to adjust the height of the shorter strings. It really looks like you may have started with an art brush and may have then expanded the result and did some further edits. You may have also done it by combining two stokes with the brush applied to each, and then expanding one and deleting the stalk, and applying the brush to another and expanding and deleting the flower, and maybe editing these separate shapes — and/or you may have expanded and separated the flower and stalk and then remade symbols of each part and created two separate brushes and then applied each to separate strokes - whew.

[Angel]

While I don't remember using the 'Art Brush', it's my poor memory that brought me here. I'll play with your suggestions. (...I could have sworn this had something to do with shape modes!!).

[The Repro Kid]

Well I'm fairly certain you did not use the Path Finder Filters, as these filter do not Morph shapes. You may have used one of the liquify tools, but they seem so hard to control, and I'm not sure that you can actually mary an object to a path using the liquify tools. I think you just use them freehand. There are several liquify tools but it seems much easier to combine some brush shapes and then edit.

[Angel]

You're absolutely right about my using the 'Art Brush'.
Now that I understand what's going on, I have a great new tool to use!